Evil Eye (Archive)
by Xyrule
Summary: This is an archive of the updated version. Read at your own risk, there are spoilers.
1. Aftermath

December was a time when most people were at their most cheerful, the weeks leading up to Christmas the calmest and brightest days of the year for many people.

Sainan High was no exception as students went about their daily lives, buzzing with excitement as the days came ever closer to winter break. The halls bustled with people after school and between classes as students excitedly talked amongst their friends over what they were planning to do over their break.

Momioka Risa and Sawada Mio would be tagging along with the self-proclaimed queen of the school Tenjouin Saki. Sairenji Haruna would be staying home as she did every year. Yuuki Rito would be the unfortunate host of almost all of the aliens currently attending the school...not too different from his usual life.

He and his group were still close friends with Lala and her sisters, but the battle against Yami's Darkness transformation several months before had shaken the student body's trust in the assassin. While Yuuki and Mea had explained things afterwards, as far as the rest of the school were concerned, Yami was suddenly Public Enemy #1 despite apologizing personally to all people who'd been directly affected by the incident.

It was a fair suspicion, with construction work still going on to repair the damage that the battle had dealt to the town and surrounding forest. Several buildings were still unusable after Momo's beanstalk had ripped the structures apart, and many of the female students now needed therapy for emotional trauma suffered as a result of Darkness's unfounded obsession with sexuality.

In Sainan High, accidental ecchi was a common occurrence surrounding Yuuki Rito, but while his actions were generally understood to be accidental, Darkness's had been very clearly a direct, deliberate attack on the students. Even though the incident was not officially recognized by Japan as an "Isolated attack by an extraterrestrial" until December, many students had spent the summer in fear of a recurrence.

Now, their fear was as clear as glass as they shied away from her whenever she passed, and even Rito, who had been most vocal about asking the students to release their prejudice, still avoided her whenever he could. Where he once would constantly accidentally fall into her turning a corner or catch an upskirt shot by accident when she was on the stairs, now she hardly saw him except when he was leaving without Lala.

There was only one person she knew for a fact would have an unchanged opinion of her, but no one had seen hide nor hair of the principal since she'd teleported him away at the outset of the battle...and frankly, nobody, least of all her, cared where he'd gone. The man was the epitome of a disgusting creep, he was probably locked away in a jail somewhere.

Personally, Yami hoped that he had somehow found his way offworld and would be subject to Devilukean law, but she didn't voice her wish. No reason to antagonize anyone else after all if there was no reason to.

The town had felt the shock of her attack, and she didn't even have a clue where Nemesis, the one who'd caused the whole thing to begin with, might be.

She had no doubt that the girl had survived Mea and Shizu's combined exorcism of her possession, but she had few clues on where to find her, and after being convinced to stop looking by Mea, she gave up on the search. No doubt the girl would turn up on her own time anyway to try again.

It was the least she could do to obey Mea's request to cancel her hunt for the other Trans. Her magenta-haired genetic "sister" had been central in warding off the particularly violent reactions when she passed by. The former agent of Nemesis was now constantly explaining to people that Yami had not been in control at the time, and eventually, the blame was shifted to Nemesis, though she never actually mentioned the short alien by name. Even though she was now free from her grasp, she still evidently felt enough attachment for the girl that she wasn't willing to completely betray her, and so she used other pseudonyms that the girl had used alternately on different worlds...evidently Earth was not the first world she'd attempted to attack.

Now, Yami was considered mostly blameless, but that didn't mean people didn't still find reasons to avoid her. Her volatile nature was obvious to everyone already, and despite her efforts to appear as pacifistic as she could, she still found herself retaliating any time someone got too close or got an angle on her clothing that she didn't want them to see.

She was trying to appear hospitable, but she was still unwilling to be a part of the frequent ecchi around the school after all. It was surprising that not more of the female population were like her. She always found people like Risa and Mio bizarre, but it was not her place to correct their actions. Let them do as they wanted, she only cared about how she herself was affected after all.

Still, despite her desire not to be near people, she still knew that she was lonely without the brown-haired boy around. Without him, the times she needed to wield her Trance fists and blades were cut down dramatically, but still, he had been both the one to teach her that she could belong to this world and the one who had given her her mind back when she'd lost herself to Darkness.

She'd tried to thank him for saving her that time, but no matter how many times she'd tried, either he'd find ways to avoid her or she'd get cold feet and attack him again. It was a vicious cycle, but one she had no idea how to break. She simply didn't have the willpower to hold back against him.

He was lucky that he was so durable, otherwise he'd have died a long time ago. He was her target, but that didn't mean she wished to see him dead. If anything, she enjoyed the fact that he managed to vade her attacks for this long, though she still didn't understand how he did it.

He was a simple human after all, he should stand no chance against her. So why was she always unable to hit him? His evasion was better than even A-ranked targets she'd faced before, and his ability to avoid her had only increased over time.

Mikado-sensei's official reply was that the illness affecting his inner ear, the same one that made him constantly trip over nothing and into people, also was making his body naturally much faster and better at avoiding her rapid attacks despite his brain not being able to register all of them.

In short, he was lucky.

But now, she never had a chance anyway. She almost never saw him, and when she did, she always found herself frozen in place.

She was surrounded by people every day, and yet she was alone.

However, despite that, she was not as unlucky as she could have been. She could be even worse off, as a certain tiny Trans was.


	2. The Girl

Nakamura Hiro. A freshman who had been out of school the day of the battle, and for the entire following week, for reasons he didn't explain.

When he returned the next week, he was surprised to find the school partially destroyed, and even more surprised to see the looks people gave the aliens, especially Yami, as they walked past. Everything seemed mostly normal, but he could see that they kept a good distance away from them.

He didn't really care, though. He had always held a high apprehension towards them. He believed that they were unnatural, and didn't have any reason to be on this planet, much less going to the same school he was. He felt sorry for the kid they seemed to flock around. Yuuki something. He couldn't imagine how much that guy had to hate his life.

Hiro was always somewhat of a freak to the other students, which was really saying something, considering the fact that they'd readily accepted more than five aliens without question. He was brilliant for someone his age, and didn't hesitate to show it in his actions. People tended to avoid him, mostly because of his tendency to stare for just a little bit too long at people.

Now, staring isn't exactly an uncommon thing for people to do, especially when the person in question is an adolescent male, but Hiro's stare was different. His eyes were a bright silver in coloration, and when he stared, his eyes would brighten, as if he was seeing something that excited him even in the most mundane of situations. It unsettled people, driving them away from him, and he knew it, but he always found himself incapable of _not_ staring. It was just something he did subconsciously.

However, he wasn't jealous of the aliens. No, he would not stoop to that level. He tolerated his seclusion, because it gave him time to think, even though he'd prefer having someone who didn't turn away every time they saw him.

But that wasn't something he could control, so in his mind, it was unimportant. He simply lived with it. That was what he could do.

So he decided to put his intellect to good use, and went to work researching the very things he hated: the aliens. He despised them, but that didn't mean he wasn't curious. They were brand-new life forms. What person that could call himself intelligent wouldn't be interested in learning about them?

The aliens, especially the two Trans ones, never seemed to care much about his stares, and multiple times, the magenta-haired one with the scrunchie, Kurosaki Mea, if he remembered correctly, tried to get him to join the group. He shot down the invitations, of course. He wanted to interact with people, yes, but not with aliens.

Soon after he had returned, on one of his bored walks around the school after classes had ended, he decided to go up to the roof. He occasionally went there because the view of the city helped calm his nerves.

He leaned on the fencing surrounding the roof and sighed, looking out at the city. From here, he could see much more clearly the destruction the attack had caused. He had heard what had happened from the class president, Yukihime Murano, who had made an announcement to the class about the event.

"What happened while I was gone?" he asked himself. Despite hearing the story, he doubted it could have been true. There was no way Yami could have done something like that, not considering how timid she is. And that didn't even include the whole Rito fixation. He knew she liked him, it was clear from the way she looked at him, but she was also so reserved that, even if she had lost her anti-ecchi nature along with her transformation, there was no way she'd outwardly show her love for him.

He shook his head. He didn't care about love, and he especially didn't care about some alien's attraction to a human. He sighed and turned around to walk back inside. It was time to go home.

He stopped walking when he heard a sound. He tilted his head, and listened to the sound. It sounded like someone saying something, but it was very faint and wobbly, punctuated by gurgling sounds.

At first, Hiro decided that it was just music someone was playing somewhere, but after thinking about it, he realized that up here, there was no way he could have heard someone if they were playing something.

He looked around, following the voice, which seemed to be coming from the corner between the fencing and the boxy entranceway that held the door to the roof.

He felt something wet on his shoe, and looked down. He'd stepped in some strange black substance.

He bent down and ran a couple fingers along the substance, studying it. It was thicker than water, almost the consistency of oil. He sniffed it. Smelled like iron. He looked in front of him. The substance was splotched into several streaks, running in what looked like a path, like something had been flung across the ground, releasing whatever the substance was.

He stood up and followed the trail, noticing that the voice had gotten slightly louder, though it was still wobbly and weak. So, whoever it was, this goo had something to do with them.

He walked over to the fence. The substance had passed right around a post, twisting and narrowing as if whatever had produced it was knocked off its path by the fencepost, which was unharmed but had splatters of the substance all over it.

He looked past the fence, at the edge of the roof, and gasped involuntarily at what he saw.

Someone was lying there, covered in the black substance,. It was still flowing out of several wounds on her body. He decided she was female based on the long black hair that was lying in a web all around her head.

 _No_. Hiro thought. _That's blood. Her blood is black. She's an alien._


	3. Savior

He backed up a few steps, his heel making a small splash on one of the streaks of blood leading to her body. An alien. He turned around, clenching his hands into fists. "No. I have no reason to help an alien." he said out loud. "She can die for all I care."

He started to walk, but stopped when he heard her attempt to speak again, though now, she had given up trying to sound intelligible over the gurgling, which Hiro now knew was the blood welling in her throat.

He clenched his teeth and closed his eyes. "She's an _alien_." She was probably here to cause another disaster like the one Yami had nearly caused.

He was torn. He wanted to turn around, to save her life, because he was a good person, despite his prejudice. He wanted to continue walking, to go back home and forget about this. He couldn't decide, spending several moments standing there, neither looking towards nor away from her.

In his mind, he realized that he could use his torn decision to his advantage. If he didn't do anything, she would die of blood loss or suffocation from the blood filling her lungs, and once she was dead, the choice would be made for him.

But the side of him that wanted to save her was powerful in its intensity. It clawed at his consciousness, eating away at his prejudice and forcing him to turn his head.

He cringed. She had managed to reach a hand out, somehow knowing he was there despite the blood blocking her eyes and clogging her ears. She must have felt the vibrations in the ground from his footsteps.

He turned around, but didn't move from his spot. "Why did you reach out?" he asked softly, though he knew she couldn't hear him. "I can't save you." _Can't, or won't?_ his mind screamed at him.

He waved the thought away, but cringed again when she reacted, pulling her hand back to her, as if she already knew help would not come from him.

His mind screamed at him to help her. He hated himself, for not being able to decide. Save or leave? If she was human, he'd have saved her without hesitation, but this is not a human. This is an alien. The very things he swore to himself he would never interact with, though he allowed himself to study them from a distance.

He cursed under his breath as his body acted unbidden, making large steps to get back to her. Against his mental protests, his arms wrapped around her, lifting her up and turning her so he could see her face.

He pulled her back inside the fence, carefully avoiding the fencepost as he moved her beneath the railing. He looked her over, now surrendering himself. He had made his decision, whether he liked it or not.

He couldn't see much by way of her features, as her entire body was covered in blood. How could she hold so much in her? She looked so small. She couldn't have been over 4'8", maybe less. And she was very light. Hiro could barely feel her weight in his arms.

He took off his backpack, which he had been carrying with him because he had not yet gone home, and took out a water bottle, which was mostly filled. He knew from basic emergency procedures that the first thing to do was to clean out the wound site.

But, as he looked over her, shifted into her new position, he became aware of just how _many_ wound sites she had. His water bottle suddenly seemed very small.

He doubted she'd last long, so he would have to prioritize. He decided to clean out the wounds on her head and neck first.

He uncapped the water bottle and started to gently pour the liquid over the side of her head, before working his way up her head, holding her nose for a few seconds while he cleared out the area around it, though he had a feeling she had inhaled enough blood already that it wouldn't matter all that much.

While he worked, she lay completely still, so much so that he had to check constantly to make sure her heart was still beating. He wasn't sure if she was still conscious or not.

That question was answered almost the instant he finished clearing the blood away from her eyes. Her eyes snapped open as soon as the water flow moved away from them, and she turned her gaze to the face of the person trying to help her.

Hiro's breath caught in his throat, and he stopped moving the hand with the water bottle in it. Her eyes were a bright gold in coloration, enunciating her tanned skin even farther, and she had a piercing stare, like she was examining everything about him.

Hiro now knew what people saw when he looked at them. Looking at those eyes, he understood perfectly why they shunned him. They were eerie eyes, and he couldn't help but feel a little afraid of her, despite the fact that she was nearly dead already.

He sat as still as she was, and they both stared into each other's eyes for several seconds, before, finally, she decided to speak.

"...Thank you." she said quietly, coughing up more blood. She tilted her head, cringing as the wounds on her head opened up again. "You have...my eyes."


	4. The Alien's Name

The effort of speaking was apparently too much for her, and her eyes closed again, her head lowering back onto Hiro's hand. He simply sat there, watching her, before he came back to his senses and put the now-empty water bottle back into his pack, picking her up again and standing up, holding her bridal-style and starting to walk towards the doorway back inside. He had no idea what else to do, so he'd have to hope Mikado-sensei was still in the infirmary. He was one of the rare few humans who knew what she really was, so he normally stayed as far away from the infirmary as possible, but now, he knew she was the only person who he was certain could help this alien.

He walked slowly, slower than he wanted to, but he knew that rushing could damage the being in his arms even more. The slow pace was maddening, and he wanted nothing more than to run as fast as he could, as if speed would maximize the chances of someone who by all rights should be dead right now.

He laughed internally at himself as he walked. He hated aliens, and yet here he was, saving one's life. The logical part of his brain repeated _She is an alien_ like a mantra, but the altruistic part kept up its own mantra. _But she is hurt._ He'd given in to his altruism already. Might as well see it through to the end, whatever the result might be.

When he looked up, he realized he had already gotten to the infirmary. He shifted his position. It felt strange, being here, a place he had always avoided.

He inhaled deeply, then immediately regretted it as the smell of iron filled his nostrils. He checked the bundle in his arms. She was still unconscious. She cringed in her stupor when he shifted her position so he could check her pulse. It was weak, but it was also regular, no signs of abnormalities in her heartbeat. He was no doctor, but he knew that that was a good sign.

He quickly opened the door and looked inside. He sighed in relief when he saw Mikado-sensei sitting at her desk.

"Mikado-sensei!" he called. She turned around in her chair to face him. She was wearing her typical outfit, a shirt that was two sizes too small and long pants, and was holding a pencil. Obviously, she had been working on something, because if she hadn't been, the first few buttons on her shirt would have likely been undone, something Hiro knew from observation.

Mikado-sensei was about to say something, before noticing the girl in Hiro's arms. "Oh, my!" she exclaimed, standing up and kicking her chair back with her leg. "Let's skip the niceties. What happened to her?" she asked, walking to them and holding out her arms.

Hiro passed her to the nurse, making sure to gently set her down in her arms, careful not to touch any of the wounds that were obvious through the blood.

The girl groaned, or attempted to groan, in pain as she was transferred, and coughed, releasing more of the black blood.

Hiro shook his head. "I don't know. I found her on the roof. She looked like she'd been hit by something and skidded across it." he informed her.

Mikado-sensei nodded, starting to walk towards one of the beds in the infirmary. The white sheets almost instantly turned black as the blood found a new absorbent material.

Mikado-sensei sighed, looking at the girl with what Hiro thought at first might be recognition. Oh, of course. Mikado-sensei was an alien. Of course she'd recognize this girl.

She turned back to face Hiro, and after quickly glancing at him, waggled her finger in the air in his direction. "You go wash yourself in the sink while I handle this. You look like a crime scene." she said.

Hiro looked down at himself, and lurched his head backwards in surprise. The front of his shirt was covered in the girl's strange blood, and it was all over his arms and hands. Some of it had gotten on his backpack too, and he feared for the papers within. Oh, well. A few pages of notes were worth saving a life, even if that life was an alien's.

He nodded, and went over to the fairly small sink, quickly rinsing his arms off with water. He shuddered involuntarily at the feeling of the cold water. He hadn't realized how warm the girl's blood was.

When he'd washed the blood from his extremities, he looked at his shirt and sighed. It was clearly ruined. Normal blood is hard to wash out, and he suspected this kind would be impossible.

He debated what to do, but decided to just leave it on. After all, once he did leave the school, he didn't want to be seen shirtless.

He walked back over to where Mikado-sensei was checking over the alien girl. "Do you think you can save her?" he asked. His tone was almost emotionless, a skill he'd picked up years ago, but he still had a clear note of concern for the girl, despite his best wishes.

Mikado-sensei laughed. "I can heal anyone." she said confidently. "You did the right thing, saving her like you did. I know how you feel about our kind."

Hiro cringed. "Please don't tell anyone about this." he said. "I don't want anyone asking questions."

Mikado-sensei nodded, then smiled. "I doubt they will even if they do find out. Your eyes scare them off." she said.

Hiro nodded. It was odd, how his eyes were so repulsive to humans, but when aliens looked at them, they took several seconds of staring before backing away. That was the only time he ever used his stare as a weapon, to drive away the aliens. He had memorized the length of time each of them took to give up and leave him alone. Run took the least amount of time, looking away after just 3 seconds. Momo and Nana were next, each roughly 5 seconds. Lala took 8. Yami took 10. And Mea currently held the record, having taken a full 13 seconds to look away.

Of course, those numbers may have changed, now that everyone apparently trusted them just as little as he did.

He was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of the girl coughing several times. Mikado-sensei was feeding her something from a test tube she'd gotten from somewhere. The substance in the tube was clear and lightly fizzing, releasing a strong acidic smell into the air.

He guessed that it was some chemical that ate away at blood after she held the girl's nose, forcing her to attempt to inhale the liquid.

Right away, the girl went into a series of coughing fits, and Mikado-sensei held her down so she wouldn't open up her wounds again with her jerky movements.

When the girl had stopped her coughing fit, her head fell back onto the pillow, making a wet squishing sound as it released the air from the blood-soaked fabric.

Mikado-sensei nodded, then took out a beaker full of the substance, simply dumping it onto the girl's body. Hiro was about to protest, saying that it could dissolve the blood she was supposed to have, but stopped when he realized it wasn't going very far, simply cleaning up what was on the outside and leaving the wound sites exposed.

Hiro whistled softly between his teeth. The tattered remains of her clothing, a simple black, almost translucent nightgown, had been removed by Mikado-sensei while he was washing his hands and was now simply tossed in the trash, the material simply too damaged to salvage. Now, with her skin exposed to the air, he could see that her wounds hadn't been nearly as bad as he'd thought. They were long, connecting like patchwork across her body, but they weren't too deep. They'd heal eventually, and many of them might not even leave a scar. It was just the internal bleeding that had been the problem.

Seeing those wounds made him wonder. What could have possibly done this to an alien? And to a little kid at that?

Mikado-sensei continued ministering to her wounds as Hiro watched. As she worked, she chatted about random things that Hiro mostly either ignored or replied to with single-word answers.

After a while, Mikado-sensei stopped working on the girl, and looked at Hiro, smiling. "She'll make a full recovery now. All the the excess blood has been purged, and most of the internal rupturing has been fixed, though she'll have to keep herself from moving too much until she's healed. Luckily for her, her bones and vitals are undamaged." she announced.

Hiro smiled in spite of himself. "Good." he said. "Thank you." He mentally sighed at himself. Being grateful for saving an alien's life. This was definitely a one-time thing.

He walked closer to the girl, letting himself run a hand along her hairline, brushing a stray strand away from her face.

When his hand touched her, her eyes opened, as quickly as they had before. They quickly trained themselves on his, and they stared at each other again.

The girl was silent, but a small smile played across her face. She must have recognized him from before.

Hiro smiled back. "Well, you're alive." he said to her. "And you'll recover eventually."

She gave an almost imperceptible nod, and looked like she was about to say something, before Mikado-sensei interrupted her.

"Nakamura-san. I have something very important to tell you about her." she said, causing Hiro and the girl to break their stares and train their eyes on her.

"What is it?" he asked.

Mikado-sensei sighed. "Well, first of all, I want you to bring her home with you. Let her stay there until she's healed. I can't keep her here, or at my lab. Secondly, as an alien, she has different needs than humans, though her particular species is mostly the same. Lastly...well, I'll let her tell you herself, once she's ready to." she said.

Hiro blinked, then looked at the girl, who looked back at him. He sighed. "I really don't want an alien in my house, but I suppose since I went this far for her, I might as well accept." he said, after a few seconds' pause. The girl smiled again before sitting up.

She tilted her head slightly, noticing that she was naked, but didn't seem to be bothered by it. Of course, that could be the trauma making her not care as much.

She turned to face Hiro and smiled again, a bit more widely. She opened her mouth to speak, and this time, her voice came out clearly, with none of the gurgling from before.

"Thank you for saving my life." she said, in a quiet, but not timid, voice that suggested that she was carefully controlling her words, making her sound far older than Hiro had guessed. He'd thought she was maybe 12 or so, based on her body size, but she spoke like an adult. She tilted her head. "What is your name?"

Hiro nodded in response to her gratitude. "Nakamura Hiro." he replied.

The girl nodded. "Thank you, Hiro. I am Nemesis."


	5. Well, That Was Easy

"Nemesis." Hiro said, sounding out the odd name. He smiled. "Alright, Nemesis. Ironic name you've got there, since that's exactly how I see aliens." He didn't know why, but he didn't bother adding on any honorific to the name. None seemed to fit her.

He looked at Mikado-sensei. "I know I'm not exactly the most likely person to have wanted to help a dying alien, but here I am, and thank you for saving her." he said, smirking and shaking his head. "Thanking an alien for saving an alien...what has happened to me?" he asked rhetorically.

He glanced back at Nemesis, who was still staring intently at him with that same creepy gaze he knew he had. "Ah, do you have any clothes for her?" he asked. "I don't exactly have any relatives, much less female ones of her size, to get clothes from."

Mikado-sensei shrugged. "Sorry, all my clothing is meant for me." she said, looking at Nemesis. "You don't seem too bothered by it, though." she pointed out.

Nemesis blinked, looking away from Hiro at Mikado-sensei as if she's interrupted something very important. She looked down at herself, blinking, as if she'd just realized she was naked.

"Oh." she said simply. "I'll just wear a shirt over it, if it really bothers you." she said, grinning slightly and poking Hiro's arm. "Or would you prefer I just go commando?" she asked softly, her grin widening. "I don't have a problem with that."

Hiro's face heated up, and he quickly turned his head, speaking with a rough voice that was clearly meant to hide his embarrassment. "You can wear my shirt for now." he said. "I'll go out and buy you something later."

Nemesis poked at his arm again. "I doubt you brought a change of clothes with you." she said, still with that soft voice.

Hiro sighed. "Fine, you can wear this one. But if anyone sees us and decides to start a rumor about how that weird kid got a girlfriend, it's on your head." he said, pulling the shirt off, wincing slightly as the dried blood on the front, which looked almost like one of those weird black blotchy patterns shirts sometimes had, was unstuck from his skin.

He handed Nemesis the shirt, and she quickly donned it. It looked huge on her, seeing as Hiro was 16 inches taller than her and well-built, but she didn't seem to mind.

In fact, she seemed to be comfortable the instant she'd put it on, despite the dried patch of her own blood that covered the front.

She stood up on the floor, wobbling slightly, and nearly fell, before Hiro reached his arm out to catch her.

He almost laughed at the sight. An alien that's more than a foot shorter than him, wearing nothing but a shirt that almost reached her knees, struggling to stay upright, using his arm as a stand to help keep herself from falling. It was quite comical, especially with the piercingly gold eyes attached to a body that Hiro had to admit was very attractive.

Hey, he may hate aliens, but he knows a good body when he sees one.

He looked down at her and smiled in spite of himself, before Mikado-sensei cleared her throat, directing his attention back to her, though Nemesis remained focused on figuring out how to stand on her own two feet.

"Anyway, I'll leave the rest up to you." she said, waving her hand. "Just leave your backpack here, unless you have something important. I'll copy any ruined notes for you. It's the least I can do, considering you'll likely have your hands full getting Nemesis situated."

Hiro nodded, and Mikado-sensei waved her hand again. "Alright, begone. I have to clean the bed now, and I was already working on something."

Hiro nodded again, and began to walk out the door, with Nemesis in tow, firmly attached to his arm. She mumbled something about his back while they walked, though he didn't really hear her. He was too busy mulling over the events of the last...ten minutes? Hour? Several hours? He didn't know, but judging by the lack of light coming from the windows, night had apparently fallen. Definitely not just ten minutes, then.

By the time they had gotten to the door to exit the school, Nemesis had built back enough strength in her legs to walk without Hiro's help, though she still stayed close to him.

He looked back at her, smiling. From what he could tell, she was a very quiet, reserved individual, and he guessed she had many secrets that she hadn't told him and probably wasn't planning to. She also seemed shy, but he guessed that was because of what had happened, as well as for modesty's sake, since after, all, she was wearing nothing but the shirt he had been wearing earlier.

He hesitated before opening the door to exit the school, checking through the small glass window on the top to make sure nobody was there.

Good, the coast was clear. He opened the door and walked out, with Nemesis trailing after. He shuddered a bit at the cold air hitting his bare skin, but it didn't bother him too much. He glanced back at Nemesis sympathetically. She was probably feeling the cold much more than he was, and sure enough, she was shivering visibly.

He offered an arm, and she quickly stepped forward, letting him wrap his arm around her in a slightly pathetic attempt to provide some warmth.

His own action surprised him. Sure, he'd saved her life, but his altruism should have ended there. What was he doing right now?

The walk home was spent in utter silence, punctuated only by the sounds of cars and other ambient city sounds. His house was across the city from the school, far enough away that he hadn't even seen the giant blade of energy Yami had apparently made during the fight a week prior.

Once they got to his house and went inside, Nemesis immediately went to the couch and sat down, curling up into the corner and falling asleep almost immediately.

Hiro smiled lightly and walked up to her, moving a strand of hair from her face. "Of course you're tired. I'm surprised you lasted this long, considering everything." he said, then walked away, deciding that he too should sleep.


	6. The Third Trans

The next day, Hiro woke up earlier than usual, several minutes before his alarm rang. It was Saturday now, so he decided to try and make an actual breakfast for once, rather than just grabbing a granola bar on the way out the door.

When he walked into the main room, a combination of living and dining room with the kitchen to the side, he was surprised to find Nemesis already awake and standing in front of his glass cabinet, looking at his displayed collection of anime and manga memorabilia. She was still wearing his shirt from the day before, reminding him that he needed to buy her clothes soon.

He walked up behind her, reaching a hand out to lightly tap on her shoulder.

"I know you're there." she said, making him jump in surprise. Her voice was louder than yesterday, confident and sure-minded. It was a big difference from the quiet, shy Nemesis Hiro had seen the day before.

 _So, this must be the real Nemesis._ he thought to himself.

Nemesis turned her head to face him, and a corner of her mouth curled up. "I'm more than just this, you know." she said. "I obviously have my own secrets."

Hiro nodded. "I figured as much. You aliens aren't exactly the most trustworthy group." he said coarsely. Just because he'd saved her life didn't mean he had to like her. Sure, she was physically attractive, but so far, the personality she'd revealed didn't appeal to his interests in the slightest.

Nemesis's smile raised a bit more, morphing into a sneer. "Some of us are better at hiding our secrets than others. That idiot Lala and her sisters are pretty bad at it." she said lightly.

Hiro blinked, then nodded. "So, you know them?" he asked. Nemesis bit her lip, perhaps realizing that she'd said something she hadn't wanted to. She flinched slightly, probably hoping that Hiro hadn't noticed the action.

He had, and he called her out on it.

"I see you're not perfect at hiding your own secrets either." he said. He grinned. "I wonder what Momo will say if I tell her about you, or if one of the Trans decide you don't need to live." he said. He was bluffing, of course. He hardly could get near them without them being repelled by his stare, much less talk about another random alien. Hopefully, though, Nemesis wouldn't call his bluff.

Luckily, she seemed to buy it, biting her lip again. She sighed and shook her head. "Well, if you'll be taking care of me while I'm still not at full strength, I might as well tell you what I am." she said. Her tone suggested that she'd thought for a long time about this. How long had she actually slept?

Hiro tilted his head, moving to sit on the couch. Nemesis followed, though she was careful to sit on the other side, as far away from him as she could be, a motion that didn't escape his observant eyes.

Nemesis sighed, and her demeanor seemed to change on a dime, and Hiro saw the same shy Nemesis he saw the day before, complete with a slight fidgeting in her seat.

He smirked. He knew what she was really like now. The shy act wouldn't hold up anymore. But he'd play along. He could glean more information from her actions, down to the smallest twitch, than she knew.

"Well…" Nemesis began, her voice dropped back to the low, almost inaudible voice from the day before. "Do you know what a Trans is?" she asked, looking at him, though she was careful not to make eye contact.

Hiro almost laughed. Okay, this was too much. Even if he was as dense as that Yuuki guy, he still wouldn't fall for it. It might have been halfway believable, but her refusal to make eye contact shattered the illusion. She'd had no qualms about staring right at him yesterday, so she should have known that he wouldn't fall for the act.

Now, he just needed to figure out why she was trying so hard. He doubted she was making an unintentional error. She was clearly too smart for that. So, what could she gain by making it painfully obvious that she's faking?

Hiro nodded, deciding to play the ignorant human. Two could play at that game. "Yeah. Transgender, right?" he asked, resisting the urge to grin. He waved a hand nonchalantly. "Don't worry, I don't care if you're transgender or not. It's not my business."

His grin couldn't be stopped when she pouted slightly, and he had to admit she looked cute doing that, even with her creepy eyes.

She attempted to regain her composure, or made it seem like she'd attempted to, and sighed. "I am most certainly _not_ transgender." she said, in a voice closer to the true one he'd heard earlier. Clearly, his reply had visibly shaken her. She knew that he knew more than he let on, which was exactly what he intended.

She frowned, seeming to have lost her train of thought after being rattled by his statement. She took several seconds to regain her bearings, and continued, clearly not happy with how easily he'd managed to shake her. "Drop the innocent act." she said, giving up entirely on her attempt at acting shy in favor of her more dominating true voice. "You know exactly what I'm talking about, I can tell."

Hiro grinned. "Well, at least you've dropped your own little act." he said, waving his hand. "The shy look doesn't suit you. You should stay like you are now. Confidence fits you far better."

Nemesis tched, motioning for him to continue. He nodded.

"Yes, I know what Trans are. Transformation Weapons, synthetic aliens capable of changing their body parts into a desired form. I don't know much about the actual nature of Trans, but I know what I've observed from Yami and Kurosaki Mea." he said. No harm in dropping more names from Yuuki's group. She definitely reacted earlier to Momo's name, and if she was also a Trans, mentioning the other two would certainly cause some reaction.

Nemesis stiffened almost imperceptibly at the mention of those names, a motion Hiro caught, but decided was simply a result of her learning of more Trans. Clearly, the way she spoke, she thought she was the only one.

Nemesis sighed. "Well, I don't know about Yami and Kurosaki." she said in such a way that she didn't seem to recognize the names, "but I'm one of the Trans. However, I'm just a failed experiment. I can only alter my hormonal control, so I can change my physiology, but I'm incapable of actually synthesizing weapons from my body." she explained.

Hiro nodded. She was hiding something, he knew, but he wouldn't press. He didn't like having to have her living with him anyway, and he guessed she didn't like him very much more either, so they might as well try not to antagonize each other too much by pressing for information. He'd have to gather what he could from her speech.

Hiro grinned. "Is it really a good idea to tell your weaknesses to your enemy?" he asked. "Especially when you'll be living with that enemy?"

Nemesis laughed hollowly. "You're no enemy. I may not have much leverage against you, and I don't doubt that true Trans could defeat me fairly easily, but you're just a human. You're beneath me. You can entertain me, but not much more. I'm not your enemy either."

Hiro shook his head. "I don't see it that way." he said, with an edge of venom entering his voice. "I have never trusted aliens, and the recent incident with Darkness only strengthened that hatred."

He leveled his stare directly at her eyes, focusing on the gold. They both went silent as they stared at each other, both trying to overcome the other's gaze in an unspoken challenge of dominance. Hiro began counting the seconds, as he always did with each new alien.

1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10...

After 10 seconds, Hiro grinned, noticing the muscles around Nemesis's eyes beginning to twitch. He could see that he'd had much more experience using his stare as an actual weapon. Their stares continued, and his mind counted the time like clockwork.

11...12...13...14...15...16…17...18...

She blinked and averted her eyes. Hiro grinned in triumph. She had lasted several seconds longer than the previous record holder, Mea, and he had to admit that he'd begun to twitch himself, but even she had proven incapable of resisting his stare.

That was valuable information. He could tell that if they were to get along, he'd need to figure out how to control her somewhat, and he knew she'd become wary of his vocal prowess after he'd so easily turned the tide of their conversation in his favor earlier. She'd be more resilient now to his speech, so his stare was the next line of defense.

Nemesis shook her head a couple times before turning back to Hiro, a sour expression on her face. Clearly, she didn't like having lost the unspoken contest.

"Anyway." she said, in an effort to change the topic. "Weren't you supposed to buy me clothes?" she asked, frowning.

Hiro laughed, waving his hand. "I was going to later today. I wasn't expecting you to be up so early, anyway. You really should rest more. I mean, yesterday, you were at the brink of death."

Nemesis looked thoughtful, then sighed. "You're...actually right about that. Even I can't waste too much energy without getting tired." she said, and the realization seemed to take its toll quickly, causing her to yawn. She lightly flicked her hand, as if to tell Hiro to go away, and laid her head back on the arm of the couch. "I think I'll sleep. Don't kill me or I'll come back and haunt you." she said, closing her eyes.

Within a few breaths, she was fast asleep. Hiro smiled in spite of himself. There she was, trying a bit too hard. She hadn't been the least bit tired before, so she couldn't have actually gone to sleep so quickly.

 _Even though it's understandable._ his mind told him. _She's been through a lot in the last day, and who knows what happened that caused her to end up so badly damaged._

He quickly squashed down the thought. She was an alien. He was only letting her live here because he had already decided to save her life, and in his mind, that included seeing it through to the point where she could go back to wherever the heck she'd come from. He had no reason to care about her past, and no desire for justice against whoever had nearly destroyed her.

He remained seated for several moments, just watching her as she slept. _She looks so...normal when she's asleep. If I didn't know better, she'd look just like a human._ he thought.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts and stood up, realizing the fact that he had been watching a girl as she slept. Regardless of species, that was just plain creepy.

He looked her over once more, sighing as he realized again that she was still wearing just his shirt and nothing else. Better go to the store then.


	7. A Rocky Start

Several hours later, Hiro had come back home, holding a shopping bag with the name of a local fashion store on its exterior. He walked to the couch, on which Nemesis was still asleep, and lightly tapped her shoulder with his free hand.

She didn't react, so he just sighed and reached his hand between the back of the seat and her body and flicked his hand forwards. Her light weight meant that he easily was able to roll her over, and she collapsed onto the ground in front of him.

She made a spluttering noise and sat up, blinking away sleep and glaring at him with her bright gold eyes. "What was that for?" she asked angrily, though she didn't really sound like she was actually mad. She'd probably expected him to do that.

Hiro shrugged. "You didn't wake up, so I made sure you would." he said, then dropped the bag next to her. "I went out and bought you some clothes. You'd better appreciate it. You don't know how awkward it is to buy girls' underwear when most of the cashiers know I don't have any relatives."

Nemesis laughed, taking the bag and looking inside. She rummaged through the bag, then glanced up at him, tilting her head in a way that Hiro could tell meant she was about to say something teasing.

"What, no maid outfits or anything like that?" she asked, grinning and confirming his suspicions.

Hiro rolled his eyes and sighed. "I don't know what you take me for, but I'm not some fetishizing pervert." he said. "There's three outfits in there for you. You can change in the bathroom." he added, pointing to the hallway. "Second door on the right." he directed.

Nemesis nodded and stood up, gripping the bag's handle with one hand. She grinned. "Wait here. I want you to tell me how I look." she said. Hiro sighed and shrugged, sitting down on the couch.

"Fine, I might as well wait. I have nothing else to do anyway." he said, then chuckled. "What am I, your fashion advisor?" he asked.

Nemesis giggled, a sound that, to Hiro, didn't fit her at all, and walked away to change.

Hiro sat on the couch, waiting for her to finish. He tapped a rhythm on the arm of the chair, letting his mind wander.

He sighed to himself. A couple days ago, when he did this, he could end up thinking about almost anything. His mind could go to all corners of his thoughts when he let himself wander.

That wasn't the case anymore. Now, every time he did it, his mind would wander a bit, but then, it would always go back to Nemesis. The alien who'd come into his life and completely screwed it up simply by existing. He'd made a decision that went against everything he stood for, but that he knew also followed his ideals perfectly. It was just too confusing for him to think too much on what had happened that day.

He gritted his teeth. The shock of the day before was finally starting to wear off, and he realized how stupid his actions had truly been. He'd saved the life of an _alien_ , and to make matters worse, he'd willingly offered to let her stay in his house, closer to him than any other location. It could only get worse if she decided to start going to school as well.

He shook his head. Nemesis may be a mystery to him, but he could tell that she was smart enough that she could figure out that aliens weren't wanted in the school anymore, after the Darkness incident. He knew she was aware of the tension between the students and the existing aliens, and that even should she hide as a human, even she couldn't remain hidden forever. The school was now his safe haven, whether he liked it or not.

Well, anyway, what he felt about the petite alien was of no consequence now. He'd made his decision, and he couldn't exactly get rid of her easily.

He was shaken out of his thoughts when he heard the object of his thoughts clear her throat.

"Come on-nn, Hiro." she said, in a slightly high-pitched, whiny tone. "I got dressed in the clothes you got me, and you just ignore me?"

He blinked and shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Oh, sorry, Nemesis. I was lost in my own thoughts." he replied, looking over at her.

She was dressed in a light yellow tank top, still a bit big on her, as Hiro had overestimated her size a bit, and she had opted to wear a pair of simple jean shorts. Hiro nodded at the sight, and grinned.

"Well, you definitely look more normal now." he said. "Even though I had to go to the kids' section of the store to get those for you."

He didn't say it, but he thought she was very attractive, even more so than earlier. When she wasn't wearing much, he thought she'd come across as a bit of a show-off, as clearly, she didn't really care if she was wearing anything or not. Now that she was actually wearing something, despite it being intended for someone many years her junior, she looked much more natural, if Hiro just ignored the scars that criss-crossed the exposed flesh of her arms and legs.

He tilted his head, having noticed something new about her while he was lost in thought. "Why do you address me by my first name?" he asked. "In Japan, you usually address people with their surnames, unless they're especially close to you."

Nemesis chuckled, sitting down on the couch next to him, a lot closer than she had done when she'd explained what she was, earlier that day. The only outward sign that Hiro had noticed this change in behavior was a raised eyebrow, which she ignored.

"I'm well aware of how the naming system here works, Hiro." she said. "But you saved my life. I feel like that gives me reason enough to give you respect by using that name. And you call me by my first name anyway, so it's only fair."

Hiro shrugged. "You only told me your first name." he replied. "So, it's not exactly the same. Whatever, though. I don't really care what you call me. I just thought it was odd, since I'm not your relative and we're definitely not close enough for that."

An odd expression passed over Nemesis's face, and, surprisingly, she looked genuinely hurt by his response. It appeared and vanished so quickly that Hiro could have sworn he'd imagined it, but that didn't stop a sudden spear of guilt reaching into his chest.

He quickly clamped down on the unfamiliar emotion and forced it away, closing his eyes to help himself even out his mindset back to its normal nearly emotionless level. There was no way he'd let her mind tricks get to him, now that he knew the way she thinks. She was the kind of person to manufacture every emotion she showed. He still didn't know how to read her true thoughts, but that didn't mean he'd never be able to.


	8. Transfer Student

Sunday passed by pretty quickly, and Monday started without a hitch. Nemesis had remained mostly silent for the whole period, just brooding in her spot on the couch. It made Hiro both relieved and worried. Relieved because he didn't have to listen to her incessant talking, worried because, well, he didn't have to listen to her incessant talking. He knew very little about her, but he knew she liked to talk. Something was clearly wrong.

Had it been something he'd said to her on Saturday? Then, he'd thought that she was simply faking that hurt expression, but was it possible that she was genuinely affected by his response?

Nah, she wasn't the kind of person to be so easily swayed. This was probably part of some plan.

He shrugged the feeling of guilt off and waved his hand. "Well, I'm heading to school, Nemesis." he said. When Nemesis didn't respond, he just shrugged and headed out the door.

He spent his walk to school in silence, just thinking over what had happened since...Was it really only three days ago that he'd found her? It felt like a lot longer than that.

He reviewed what had happened over in his mind, trying to piece together where he'd screwed up. Where had he gone from wanting nothing to do with aliens to having one living with him? Something had happened somewhere down the line.

It had to have been some time when he'd first found her. Otherwise, he'd have never even considered the possibility of helping her.

So, when had he changed then? Was it when he brought her to Mikado-sensei? No, he'd been trying to help before that. Was it when he'd tried to clean her wounds, then?

No, it had to have been even earlier. It drove him mad trying to pinpoint the exact time, until eventually, he just gave up, opting instead to focus on the path in front of him. He didn't want to think about it. The more he thought about it, the more it made him angry, and the more it made him angry, the more he thought about it. He hated aliens, and he'd made a huge mistake saving her life. Sure, she seemed somewhat reasonable now, but he knew she was hiding something, something huge that he couldn't detect. She was an _alien_. None of them could be trusted. Even that Devilukean that always followed the Yuuki kid around, Lala, was hiding something. After all, if someone as ditzy as her could fight against Yami's Darkness at full power, then she was obviously not what she claimed to be.

He shook his head. It was too late now. There was no sense in getting himself worked up over it. He could only maintain his status quo, and hope that things worked out the way he wanted them too. He even allowed himself to toy with the possibility that he might be wrong about Nemesis, though that idea was swept away almost instantly by his intense prejudice.

Before he knew it, he was already at Sainan High. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and entered the main building. He almost headed to his homeroom class when he remembered that Mikado-sensei still had his bag. He sighed. Another unwanted meeting with the alien nurse.

Oh, well, it couldn't be helped. This was just another consequence of his actions.

He headed to the infirmary, earning a few odd looks from the students that were milling around the hallways before school started. He'd never gone down this hallway before, it made sense that people would be confused.

He entered the infirmary. "Mikado-sensei." he called. As usual, she was sitting at her desk, though this time, it was clear she wasn't really doing anything based on how the top part of her shirt was undone.

Mikado-sensei smiled and waved at him. "I copied the notes that were irreparable. Everything should be in order." she said, reaching beside her and picking up his bag, which she held out. He took the bag and nodded.

"Thank you, Mikado-sensei." he said.

"No problem." she replied. "How is Nemesis?"

Hiro sighed. "I have no idea what she's thinking." he responded. "She was pretty lively on Saturday, but since then, she hasn't said a word. It's impossible for me to read her."

Mikado-sensei sighed and nodded. "Nemesis is a very complicated girl." she said. "Even more so than most aliens. Now, be on your way. Class is starting soon." she added, waving him off.

Hiro nodded and started to walk, but stopped when she spoke again. "Oh, and Nakamura-san?" she said.

"Yes?" he asked, turning his head to face her.

"A word of advice. Nemesis is far more fragile than she appears. Be careful how you treat her."

"...Alright." Hiro replied, after hesitating, and left the infirmary.

He sighed and sat down heavily in his seat, right next to the window, dropping his bag on the floor next to him. It felt good, knowing that this was the one safe place he had to stay away from Nemesis. He didn't know exactly how injured she still was, but he knew even she wasn't crazy enough to follow him to school, after whatever had happened that lead to her ending up on that rooftop.

He was shaken from his thoughts by someone saying his name from behind him. He turned around to face the person.

"Nakamura-san, are you alright?" she asked. "You seem worried."

Hiro smiled in spite of himself. Haruhi Saori, the girl who sat behind him during homeroom, was the polar opposite to both the loud and obnoxious Nemesis and to the annoyingly strict class president, Yukihime Murano, who never left him alone either. Haruhi was quiet and reserved, and her personality was matched by her appearance. She was short, barely taller than Nemesis, with mousy brown hair and a pair of glasses that looked exactly what you'd expect from the 'geeky' stereotype. At first glance, she'd be the kind of person that is easy to overlook, and to most of the people in the class, she barely existed, but Hiro knew something about her that made her unique.

She wasn't affected by his stare.

He'd never actively stared at her, but he could tell that she wasn't bothered in the slightest by it whenever he happened to look at her. Well, at least, she didn't SEEM to be. She still looked away whenever he looked at her, but that was probably more due to her shyness than to his stare.

Hiro shrugged. "Yeah, I just had a lot going on this weekend." he replied, in answer to her concern. "Don't worry about me."

Haruhi nodded, and quickly turned her head, a slight blush playing on her face. Hiro smiled. She was always so nervous, it helped him to forget about his own worries.

"Nakamura!"

...And then there's Yukihime.

She marched straight up to his desk and slammed her hands down on it, rattling the desk and making the legs shift on the ground, producing a loud screeching sound.

Hiro sighed and looked at her with a bored expression, all thoughts of Haruhi vanishing. "What did I do now, Yukihime?" he asked her.

Yukihime was, as previously stated, the absolute antithesis to Haruhi. Loud, easily annoyed, and strict. Was there some kind of rule that all class presidents have to be jerks to at least one of their classmates? It seemed like Yukihime had simply been put in the school to make his school life as horrible as possible. She was always getting on his case for some reason or another, and it was always for some stupid reason or another.

Yukihime was tall for a female, around 5'10", and she had long black hair, another thing that seemingly all class presidents were required to have. Whenever their homeroom teacher was absent, which was suspiciously often, she would take over, apparently having lesson plans for every day. Hiro didn't know much about her other than that, since he couldn't be bothered to find out anything more. She was just too obnoxious for him to care.

Yukihime growled. "Care to explain what the heck you were doing leaving the school shirtless on Friday?" she asked. Hiro cringed and looked around the classroom, and was relieved to see nobody paying the slightest bit of attention. Good thing they went through this routine every day, then. Everybody was desensitized to her outbursts by now.

 _Crap._ he thought. _I need to think of an excuse. It's not like I can explain Neme- Oh, thank God. She doesn't sound like she saw Nemesis. That makes things a bit easier. But what possible excuse can I come up with that she'll believe? And wait...why was she there so late in the first place?_

He was struggling to think of something when the door to the class opened, and the teacher, Saero Fujikishima-sensei, walked in. The class went silent, and Yukihime grumbled before returning to her seat. Saero-sensei was the type of person that even Yukihime knew not to mess with. He wasn't exactly strict, in fact, he was far more lenient on the rules than most of the other teachers, but his lectures were something to be feared.

"Alright." Saero-sensei said. "Class, we have a transfer student."

Almost immediately, the entire class went into an uproar. Transfer students to Sainan were rare enough, and there had not been one since several weeks before the Darkness incident. Not to mention that this would be the first transfer to a freshman class in years.

As soon as the new transfer walked in, Hiro slammed his face into his desk. "Of all the people-" he muttered to himself.

It was Nemesis. And not only was it Nemesis, she was wearing one of HIS uniforms, with the shirt that he'd given her, still covered in the black stain of her blood. The uniform sagged on her, but still managed to keep itself somewhat held up to her petite form.

The uproar grew even louder, and it was pretty obvious from the general comments that Nemesis had instantly become popular. He even heard Haruhi quietly comment on how cute she was.

Nemesis smiled, closing her eyes as she did so, which only added to her cuteness factor. "Hello, everyone!" she said jovially, seeming to have completely changed from the depressed-looking Nemesis Hiro had seen at home. "Nice to meet you! I'm Nakamura Nemesis!"


	9. Nakamura Nemesis

The entire class went silent at Nemesis's words, and slowly, everyone's head turned to face Hiro.

Hiro banged his head on his desk several times, trying to think of something to say to relieve the silence that had fallen on the classroom.

"God dang it, Nemesis." he muttered to himself. "Of all the things you could have said, why did you have to call attention to me?"

"N-Nakamura?!" Yukihime shouted, and instantly, it was as if the silence shattered, and everyone started talking at once, crowding around his desk.

He silently clenched his hand into a fist, closing his eyes to help him ignore the sudden onslaught of questions directed toward him. It didn't bother him, per se, but it was quite odd, suddenly becoming the center of attention after so long being the class freak.

He was always a very patient person, but even he couldn't hold out forever, and so, after several moments of Saero-sensei desperately trying to get everyone to calm down and Nemesis just standing in her spot, grinning madly, he finally decided to speak out.

He opened his eyes and focused on the people in front of him, and spoke a single word, quietly, filling his voice with as much authority as he could.

"Stop."

Almost inhumanly quickly, everyone who saw his gaze and hear his voice dropped off, until silence reigned, only broken by the sounds of students breathing in anticipation.

Hiro closed his eyes again and inhaled deeply, before continuing. "Nemesis has no affiliation to me." he lied, speaking calmly and keeping eye contact with whoever he could. "Just assume that we're strangers, because we have nothing to do with each other. Having the same surname does not mean that we are related."

The class was silent, and many of them seemed satisfied with the answer, most heading back to their seats, though Yukihime remained standing in front of him. She slammed her hands on his desk and shouted in typical Yukihime fashion.

"That can't be true!" she exclaimed. "You and she look quite similar. Too similar for it to be a coincidence."

Hiro sighed, shaking his head. "Are you serious?" he asked, carefully choosing his words. "Look at her, and then look at me. The only similarity between us is our hair color. She's short and tan, and I'm tall and pale. I bet she's not even Japanese based on her appearance."

At that moment, Nemesis decided to step in, walking up to his desk and smiling, an expression that would seem innocent if Hiro didn't already know her. "What do you mean, Hiro-nii?" she asked innocently. "We live in the same house!"

Hiro blinked, and slowly turned his head to face her, as the rest of the class did. "Did you really have to say that, Nemesis?" he asked quietly, his eye twitching slightly.

He sighed and looked down, shaking his head. He raised his hands palms-out in surrender. "Whatever, I'll admit it." he said, seeing no reason to dig himself deeper. "She's my...cousin. She moved back to Sainan from the Dominican Republic over the weekend. It was a shock to me too, I hadn't seen her in years and nobody told me she was coming." He sighed. "So don't ask me anything about her, if you're curious, just ask her yourself." _Hopefully that'll keep her out of my hair too. If she's going to be coming here, I'll do whatever it takes to keep her away from me._

Naturally, his statement, while it seemed to satisfy the rest of the class, only seemed to confuse Yukihime more, enough that she dropped her shouting to a more reasonable volume.

She turned to face Nemesis and pointed a finger, mustering as much authority as she could. "Well, in any case, don't cause any trouble, Nakamura-chan. I'm the class president, so it's my responsibility to make sure you don't disrupt the class any farther than you already have." She looked at Hiro. "You too, Nakamura-san."

"What did I do?" he asked, but shrugged, knowing he couldn't change her mind in any case.

Nemesis simply grinned lightly, deciding not to add to Hiro's explanation. "Might as well just call me Nemesis, everyone else does. Don't bother with the honorifics. I've never liked using them."

Yukihime nodded. "Anyway, there's an empty seat next to mine that you can sit at. That should be fine, right?"

Nemesis glanced around the room, then nodded, sighing. "I was hoping to get to sit next to Hiro-nii, but I guess since that's not available…"

"Please stop calling me Hiro-nii." Hiro said. "It feels uncomfortable, I've never been called by that honorific before."

Nemesis stuck her tongue out. "Then I had better remember to keep calling you that." she said, before heading to her new seat, baggy clothes swaying due to her motion. _Thank God no one mentioned that she's wearing my uniform. Thank you, weirdness censor._

"Ahem." Saero-sensei said, bringing the class's attention back to himself. "Now that that's over with, let's continue the lesson…"

BREAKBREAKBREAK

"Nakamura Hiro." the girl said, moving a hand to shift the golden blonde hair out of her face so she could better watch the interaction going on in the room. "So that's his name…"

She narrowed her eyes as she focused on the tanned girl standing near him, ignoring the loudmouthed class president. "What is your relationship with Nemesis? How is she even alive?"

 _If she's alive, then does that mean she'll go after me again?_


	10. Dusty Rooms and Stalker Girl Breaks Laws

After her first day at school, Nemesis had all but lost the sad appearance she'd kept over the weekend. Now, she was back to her normal self. Hiro sighed to himself, knowing that the peace he'd had when she had remained silent was gone once again. There would be no peace for him.

Oh, well, that was alright. Life had gotten too boring before the odd alien anyway.

He grinned to himself as he and Nemesis walked across the city back home. _What is wrong with me? It's as if I'm actually accepting that she'll be around. She'll be gone soon, she clearly isn't all that injured, and then life can go back to normal. I like being on my own, and she's an_ alien.

Nemesis seemed to be taking her "cousin" role seriously now that it was public that they lived with each other, and now, she walking with her arms wrapped around his left arm.

If anyone saw them, he thought, they would decidedly _not_ think they were related.

He glanced behind them, as he had done several times on the walk home. He had a strange feeling that someone was watching him, but every time he looked, there was no one there.

He glanced at Nemesis and sighed. "Nemesis, two questions. One: why did you come to school? Two: why are you wearing MY uniform?"

Nemesis looked up at him and grinned. "What, I can't go to school? Is it illegal for aliens to go? Then how do you explain the others?"

Hiro sighs and shakes his head. "Whatever. And my uniform?" he asks.

Nemesis looks down at herself, before shrugging. "I didn't have one and I like this one. It reminds me of when you saved my life, after all." she said, surprisingly sincerely.

Hiro was taken aback by her apparent gratitude. "You can have it if you want." he said without thinking. "I'll just buy a uniform for you to wear, you have to wear the female one. Mine definitely doesn't fit you, in any case…"

Nemesis just laughed quietly, almost a purr. "It definitely caught people's attention, didn't it?" she asked. "I must have made a fashion statement!"

Hiro shuddered at the mental image. "I think they were staring at something else other than your outfit, to be honest." he said. Nemesis simply giggled at the implication and shook her body alluringly.

"Do you think the same way, Hiro-nii?" she asked. Hiro simply rolled his eyes and groaned.

"Anyway, let's get home. You don't have to explain yourself, to be honest, the biggest shock was people talking to me. That never happens. I guess I can't stop you if you want to go."

Nemesis grinned and nodded. "That's right, and don't forget it. You control me at home, but I have free reign when you're gone."

Hiro smirked. "I control you? Where did that come from? You're just a freeloader, all I do is make sure you don't starve to death before you're healed."

Back at home, Hiro stopped at the door, looking in with a thoughtful expression. Nemesis stopped walking and turned to face him, tilting her head. "What's the matter?" she asked.

Hiro shook his head in response. "Nothing, just...You can't really sleep on the couch forever, so I should probably set up the guest room for you...Then again, I don't know how long you'll be here, so I'm not certain if that's entirely necessary…"

The diminutive Trans stuck her tongue out. "Of course I'll need a room, I don't plan on leaving an-y ti-me so-on…" she said, enunciating her words, making Hiro roll his eyes and head into the house, toward one of the rooms on the back hallway.

He opened the door of one of the rooms and coughed as a cloud of dust hit him. "Ech, clearly I haven't used this one in-"

He sighed, and closed the door. "Nope, not that one, you can't go in there." he said, a clear note of...something, something that Nemesis would find a hard time discerning, before moving on to the next room. "This one's better, albeit filled with junk I never got around to sorting out."

She walked up to him, curious about the room he'd rejected. "What's in that one?" she asked curiously, though she didn't try to open the door. Let him tell her if he wanted to, she appeared genuinely concerned for whatever was in the room.

Hiro gritted his teeth, a motion that wasn't lost on her, and sighed. "Just...memories I'd rather not bring up again." he said.

Nemesis blinked. This was the first time he'd shown this side of himself. Normally he was either constantly irritated or just generally bored. Never had she seen his mood raise very far, and never had she seen it drop like this.

"Are you alright?" she asked, an uncharacteristic note of concern creeping into her voice.

Hiro shook his head and grinned, and it was like he was back to normal in an instant, shedding off whatever had covered him just then. "I'm just messing with you." he said, closing his eyes to widen his obviously fake smile. "For a Trans, you're too easy to fool."

Nemesis frowned and walked ahead of him into the now-opened room in front of them, looking around and deciding to temporarily forget about the other room, though she certainly wouldn't stop asking him about it any time soon.

This room was clearly intended as a guest room, small and probably open, if you ignored all the boxes and miscellaneous items all over the place. Half the room was covered by a large queen bed, which was surprisingly relatively free of junk, though a few boxes hung over from where they were balanced.

"Sorry if it's not too big, and I'll have to find a place to put all the junk…" Hiro said, having apparently forgotten the other room.

Nemesis simply laughed. "Look at me and tell me I need space. It's fine as it is. Better than sleeping on a couch anyway." She demonstrated this by getting on the bed, which had no sheets or pillows, and just laying there, grinning as she often did. "See? I barely take up a quarter of it, it's like I'm your child!" she said, in typical Nemesis fashion.

Hiro laughed, pinching the bridge of his nose to keep himself from saying what he wanted to say in response.

"You're basically a child anyway. I mean, you're wearing clothes meant for 11-year-olds." That lead him to wonder. How old was she, anyway? Clearly, she wasn't a child, but she didn't seem like an adult either.

"17." she said, snapping Hiro from his thoughts.

"What?" Hiro asked, looking at her. She grinned again.

"I'm 17. You looked like you were wondering what my age was." she said flatly. "What about you? I'm assuming you're not that old, since you're only a freshman."

"I'm 14." he replied, seeing no reason to lie. After all, generally freshmen were either 14 or 15. "II kind of was guessing you were younger than that, you certainly don't look like you're almost an adult.

Nemesis smiled and raised a hand, holding two fingers up in a peace sign. "Trans mature much more slowly than humans." she said simply. "I just happen to mature mentally about the same speed!"

Yeah, right. Hiro wondered just how much of the Nemesis he saw was real or fabricated.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

The girl recorded the address the two had walked to into her permanent memory, watching them from behind the frame of the door Nakamura Hiro was in.

She has to muster all the stealth she could to do this, because if she was caught, she'd probably be charged with trespassing and breaking and entering, though technically the front door HAD been unlocked.

Still, what a hassle it would be to have to deal with a fine or prison time. She'd just have to be quiet and hope neither of them would notice her presence.


	11. Stairs are Dangerous

"Nakamura!"

For Hiro, the school day didn't truly begin until he got yelled at by Yukihime. It was like his alarm clock, waking his brain up for the day.

It had been a week since Nemesis had transferred in, and things had normalized once again, though she still fairly often got questions and comments from random students, both from their class and from outside. By now, she was even used to Yukihime's shouting, and Hiro had given her a crash course in the students in the class so she could get along with everyone reasonably well. She now sported a female uniform, one that had to be specially ordered by Mikado-sensei due to how small she was, and to some 'customizations' she had to make due to Nemesis's biology. Wouldn't want her clothes to rip if she ever wanted to modify her shape, wouldn't we?

All in all, the craziness that had been her appearance seemed to have died down, both in the class and at home. Nemesis had settled into her new room, insisting that Hiro keep the many boxes in. Cardboard fort, anyone?

Yeah, she was more childish than she liked to admit. But Hiro played along sometimes, because why the heck not, he was supposed to help her rehabilitate and it got boring doing his daily routine of sitting motionless reading manga all day.

Yeah, that's why he went along with it. No hidden motive here.

Anyway, now that Nemesis had settled in and things were back to normal, Hiro quickly began to realize how... _human_ she really was. She got along well with everyone, and much of her speech and mannerisms were completely sincere, though how he knew he could not guess. In any case, she was definitely more popular than he was, and people usually ignored her eyes, despite them having the same creepy quality his had.

Maybe it wasn't just his eyes that drove people away from him. He never thought about it before Nemesis came, but he really was antisocial. And kind of a jerk. He wondered what Haruhi saw in him.

Oh, wait, that was saying a bit too much. Ignore that last part.

Later that day, he and Nemesis were having lunch on the roof, near the spot where he'd found her. Sometime in the days before they'd made an unspoken agreement to meet there, and Hiro had a feeling it would continue for a while.

They ate in silence, neither having anything in particular to say.

There was, of course, an underlayer to their silence. They had maintained the 'cousin' visage for the time being, and being the manipulative people they were, both were very good actors, so it wouldn't be surprising if anyone fell for the act. Not that anyone was likely to be watching them up here, that is, but hey, better safe than sorry.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

Of course, they weren't alone, because that's just too much to ask for. No, there was a lone figure, the girl who had been tracking them all week, standing at the stairway, with the doorway out cracked open just enough that she could see them, her red eyes flickering between them.

They weren't doing much, so to a normal person, there wouldn't be much to gain from watching such a boring interaction, but to her, everything they did, every little twitch of the eye, told her multitudes of information.

She knew what she was looking for. She was just biding her time in wait.

 _Eventually, she will slip up, and then I'll get her_. she thought to herself.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

"So, apparently they finally got us a new principal." Hiro said, breaking the silence. Nemesis looked at him.

"Really? I heard the last one was...not the best." she said nonchalantly. Hiro smirked and nodded.

"He was a fat old pervert, to say the least, but he meant well. Sort of. Not really…" he said, shaking his head to return his focus. "The new one's supposedly a lot better. Maybe the girls of the school will be safe with her around. Gabrielle Dunois, I think that's her name. I don't know much else about her, but hey, I guess we don't really need to know too much about the principal, do we?"

"True, it's not like we'll see much of what she does except for festivals and swim competitions and stuff, and I doubt there's going to be any of those this early in the year."

"I hope not, it's only January. Too cold to be doing any swimming." He nodded and stood up, taking his now-empty bento box with one hand. "Well, I'm heading back down." he said. "I need to catch up on some stuff in math class." Because it's always math class. Clearly, that was the only important class in anime.

As he walked to the door, he could have sworn he'd heard someone rushing down, but put it off as his imagination. Few people came up here.

He opened the door, which was oddly partially opened, though he'd thought he'd closed it when they'd gone up.

In any case, he closed it behind him, heading down the stairway, before he heard a loud thump and a crashing sound somewhere on the flight below.

Naturally, he was concerned that someone had been hurt, so he rushed down the stairs, causing him not to see the girl on one of the landings until it was too late to stop, his momentum carrying him forward and forcing both of them into the wall. He felt the concrete stop them, knocking him cold when he made contact, the sudden softness he felt on his face not enough to absorb the impact.

When he came to again, probably just a few seconds after, he groaned and opened his eyes, his body still in shock to the point that he could barely lift his head from the leatherbound body he now found himself on top of.

In his still state, he noticed the girl was trembling. Well, wonder why? Maybe because he'd straight-up tackled her into a concrete wall!

He felt the feeling return in his body again, and he lifted his head to look at who he'd run into.

Yellow hair. Red eyes. An expression that clearly read "What on earth do you think you're doing?"

Yep. Luck was not on his side. Of all people to fall on top of, it had to be Konjiki no Yami.


	12. Always Nice to Not Be Killed

Yami. Of all people, it had to be Yami, the renowned ecchi-hater of the school, the complete antithesis of the old principal, and well known as one of the quickest to violence of all the students at the school.

In short, the last person whose chest Hiro wanted in his face buried in.

Well, I'm doomed. he thought to himself. "Ehh…" he said out loud, then jumped up, scooting back to the bottom step of the flight he'd just basically fallen down. "Do I get any last words?" he asked her.

She simply sat still, her normally pale face covered in red, still maintaining the "You are dead" look she often wore when Yuuki-senpai was in Hiro's place.

Hiro waited in silent anticipation, knowing that he was not as quick as the agile Yuuki and Nemesis couldn't have heard from all the way at the roof, so he had no choice but to accept his fate, whatever the Trans may choose that to be.

He looked at the ground, and sensed rather than saw the yellow-haired girl stand.

"U-Umm…" she said, with an odd stutter. "St-Stand up."

He glanced at her, confused, and did as she said, standing back up, cringing as his neck muscles stretched when he moved, twinging and releasing sharp needles of pain, the structure not yet adjusted back to normal after the impact.

He was torn between his hope that she was not going to cut him to ribbons and worry that she was just hiding it for a surprise attack. Sure, she was scary when she was violent, but when she was silent...sometimes it meant she was even angrier than ever.

He looked her in the eyes as he usually did, but was surprised to find her not looking at him. Yes, everyone generally looked away, but few would avoid looking altogether. That coupled with how she was still blushing made her seem a lot less threatening, especially since he towered over her now that he was standing.

"Umm-" she said, glancing at him before looking away again. "K-KeepawayfromNemesis…" she said rapidly, before bolting down the stairs, leaving Hiro standing on the landing, confused.

"Uh...Well, I'm alive, at least…" he said. "Oh, crap!" he shouted, suddenly realizing what he'd been doing before that whole thing happend. "I'll be late for class!"

After the strange meeting with Yami, the alien seemed to have vanished from the school, or at least, from Hiro's attempts to find her in the crowd.

Oh, well, why bother chasing after her anyway? There was no reason to, she had clearly wanted nothing to do with him after whatever had happened, though he could have sworn he'd seen the tail of her usual black dress behind things as he walked past.

She was always weird and antisocial, he knew that much. She was much like him in that regard. Maybe she was just trying to lay low after the Darkness incident?

That was probably it, and attacking him would only bring attention to herself. The embarrassed look was probably just a second line of defense.

Whatever the reason, he decided to give up actively searching for her. He had to remind himself that she, like Nemesis, was an alien, and so, he shouldn't be actively TRYING to be near her.

Out of sight, out of mind became his mindset, and he forgot about her entirely by the time the next week rolled around.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

"No, tangent is opposite over adjacent, not adjacent over opposite. This problem doesn't require cotangent." Hiro said, pointing at the sheet in front of Nemesis, which was covered in notes written in a bizarre language that Hiro only barely recognized as her native tongue. Apparently Trans have their own written language, who knew? Of course, it could also be Nemesis screwing with him again and just writing gibberish, that's also possible.

"Why is this necessary?" nemesis grumbled, sounding like a true high school student. "Why don't we learn stuff that we can actually use in the real world?"

Hiro sighed. "Because the school system. Now just try the problem." he said.

"Nakamura! Nemesis-chan!" Yukihime said, walking into the room, causing Hiro to groan internally. The class president had taken to calling them both whenever she yelled at them, as if they were just a single unit. Then again, they were 'related', so she probably assumed they were similar.

She walked up to them and pointed out the door. "A group of juniors were asking for you. By name. They said they wanted to meet you in front of the school." she stated.

That surprised Hiro. Not the message itself, it was common enough for people to want to see them, but the fact that Yukihime of all people had relayed a message, especially to them? THAT was a shocker.

"Did they give a reason?" Nemesis asked flatly, clearly disinterested. It was understandable, most of the time, people had one reason to want to see either of them. For Hiro, it was to meet "that freak with the creepy eyes". For Nemesis, it was usually to hit on her and/or ask her ridiculously personal questions. Typical high school student stuff.

Yukihime nodded. "Yeah, they said Mikado-sensei told them about you two. I don't know what they meant though-" She blinked, and suddenly, she was alone in the room, with just a piece of paper covered in chickenscratch fluttering in the wind caused by the two's sudden rush out of the room. "Umm...Where did they go?"


	13. Meeting that Yuuki Kid

As they ran across the school to the front, Hiro gritted his teeth. "Don't tell me Mikado-sensei actually sold us out?" he asked himself. "How could she have without revealing that she herself is an alien?"

Nemesis looked at him, her face showing some level of worry, though mainly directed as his reaction. "It could be something else, they might not know. Besides, even if they do, it'll be fine…"

"No, it won't, because if it gets out that an alien lives with me, the people are going to draw conclusions that I don't want. And neither do you. Have you not noticed the looks people give to the ones that already go here?"

Nemesis sighed, and nodded, speaking more quietly, flatly. "They get the same looks you do." she said.

Hiro stopped in his tracks, staring at her, the only outward sign that he was affected by what she said the hand that clenched into a fist. His eyes showed a hint of pain in them at her response, but it quickly went away, replaced by the blank expression he'd cultivated for years.

"What are you talking about?" Hiro asked quietly.

Nemesis sighed, stopping and standing in front of him. "I've been observing ever since I came to this school, and I've noticed things about its students. This city is possibly the most all-inclusive place in Japan, as shown from the sheer number of aliens out in the open, but that doesn't mean the people accept things themselves. They give looks to people they see as different, to those too far out of the social norm. You and they fall under the same category, and you know it."

Hiro stared straight into her eyes as he'd done the first day they'd had a real conversation, and Nemesis found herself looking away quicker than she'd done then, the look in Hiro's eyes saying "End of conversation."

"Let's just go. It would make us suspicious to ignore whoever called us."

Nemesis nodded, and they began to walk, this time more slowly, as they were almost to the front of the school anyway.

When they got there, Hiro went first, Nemesis noticeably staying shielded behind his body. Perhaps she was more worried than she had acted like she was.

When they reached the people, consisting of four girls and one guy, Hiro groaned. "Oh, of course it was you. I was wondering when you'd find out, you attract aliens like a magnet." he stated.

The guy laughed nervously, confirming Hiro's suspicion that Mikado-sensei had told about Nemesis, and pushed a hanging strand of his light brown hair out of his face. "Hello, Nakamura-san. I'm-"

"I know who you are, Yuuki-senpai." Hiro said, glancing at Nemesis, who seemed to jump at the mention of the name. "Just call me Hiro, Nemesis and I have the same last name."

"Yuuki?" Nemesis asked, before walking beside Hiro to look at the people who'd asked for them. Her eyes widened when she saw them, something Hiro could easily notice. "Oh, Rito-kun!" she exclaimed, grinning, before her grin faded and she hid behind Hiro again, holding his arm with a hand.

 _Is she...shy?_ Hiro thought to himself. _Oh, so she must like him. No other explanation I can think of, at least…_

Yuuki Rito hesitated, before waving lightly, and was about to say something before one of the girls, the alien Hiro knew as Mea, interrupted.

With an excited sound like a cross between a squeal and a squeak, the second Trans jumped forward, almost bowling Hiro over before stopping herself. "Neme-chan! We thought you'd died!" she exclaimed.

"H-Hey, Mea-chan…" Nemesis said from behind the safety of Hiro's body. "Long time no see, almost a month…"

 _A month? So they must have last met back during the Darkness incident…_ Hiro thought, glancing at Nemesis with a renewed sympathy for the being. _That must have been what happened. Darkness must have gotten her before she was returned to normal._

"Mea, calm down! We're not here to talk about the Darkness incident." the girl, who Hiro could recognize as Yuuki's class president from the sheer stereotypical look she had, stated. The other two girls were two of the Devilukean sisters, if the pink hair and devil tails said anything. One of the two, Nana, if memory served, piped up at Class President's choice of words.

"But isn't this entirely about-" she started, before her hand was covered by the other Devilukean, Momo.

Momo smiled at Hiro and shook her head. "No, Nana, this is not about then. That's in the past now. We just were going to talk to them about some things."

"What 'other things'?" Hiro felt the need to ask, though he assumed he knew what they were going to say already.

"I think we should start with the biggest question." Yuuki said. "How in the world did she survive? She was literally ripped to pieces, according to Mea."

Hiro glanced at Nemesis, who just nodded, giving the go-ahead to talk freely. He nodded back and turned to face the older student.

"I found her on the roof and brought her to Mikado-sensei. She was able to heal her." He laughed. "I honestly didn't think she'd be able to do it, but I guess Mikado-sensei isn't called the "Best doctor in the universe" for nothing."

"Ain't that the truth…" Class President said.

"How much do you know about her...identity?" Nana asked cautiously.

"All I know is that she's a failed Trans. She didn't tell me anything else and I really don't care whether or not there's more than what I've already learned." Hiro responded.

Nemesis sighed, apparently in relief. _Don't worry, Nemesis. I really don't care. Whatever your secrets are, nothing short of you being some sort of international terrorist matters to me. You can tell me in your own time._

"Wait, why did you say you had the same last name?" Mea asked. "Neme-chan doesn't have a last name, as far as I know…"

Nemesis stepped out from behind Hiro to answer that one herself. "Because we're pretending to be cousins." she said. "To help people believe I'm human."

"Since when have you ever cared about that? You certainly didn't when-" Nana suddenly shouted, before being punched in the side of her head by Momo. She hit the ground and passed out, face in the usual TKO anime expression.

Nemesis simply grinned. "Let's just say I've decided to turn over a new leaf. Hiro-nii saved my life, after all, it's the least I could do to repay him."

Hiro rolled his eyes. "Because taking up room in my house and stretching my monthly allowance is definitely repaying me." he said sarcastically. "By the way, who's Class President? I recognize all of you except her."

Class President huffed and crossed her arms in response, an understandable reaction.

"Kotegawa Yui, class president of Class 3-E." she said. "Umm...How did you know I was a class president?"

Hiro shrugged. "You fit the trope to a tee." he said simply.


	14. The Return of Stalker Girl!

"So, Nemesis lives with you now?" Mea asked. Both Hiro and Nemesis nodded.

"Yes, I do, in one of his guest rooms." Nemesis said. "It's quite nice, especially since he gave in to my demands."

Hiro chuckled. "And by 'demands' she means I had to leave all the crap I was storing in there. Apparently Nemesis here likes playing with cardboard boxes. Not exactly something an adult would do."

Nemesis blushed, waving her hands in front of him like a little kid, as if she could stop him that way. "No no no, don't say that! I just like cardboard smell! Yeah, and-"

She was stopped by Hiro's finger on her mouth. Momo laughed and nodded knowingly at the tiny Trans's reaction, Kotegawa covered her face like she sympathized with her embarrassment. Mea just laughed along with Momo, while Yuuki just looked stone-faced.

Hiro pitied the junior, he had to deal with so many of the aliens, and several humans as well, so he couldn't possibly ever have time to himself.

Hiro chuckled and patted the top of Nemesis's head. "But it's true, isn't it? Why mask the truth when it's not dangerous to hide?"

The group seemed to collectively flinch, as if something in what he'd said had hit on something they all knew, but he didn't notice as he was focused on Nemesis, and it passed quickly.

Nemesis' cheeks puffed out in annoyance. "Don't you dare mention that!" she said, and he grinned.

"Oh? What's wrong? Don't want your friends to know about that cardboard fortress you've built?"

"Don't!" she shrieked, beating at his side with her small hands, and he laughed, the action not hurting in the slightest. For a Trans, she really wasn't all that strong normally, though he had no doubt that if she was serious, she could wipe the floor with him.

Mea grinned. "You two really could pass for siblings." she commented. "If this is how you act around each other. But Hiro, if you hate us aliens, why did you save her in the first place?"

The reasonably happy mood of the group suddenly went tense. Even though they didn't know the answer, they knew whatever it was was a very touchy subject with Hiro.

Hiro froze in his place, and his silver eyes seemed to dim as the question processed. He sighed and looked down, lowering the hand he had had on Nemesis's head.

"I don't know why." he responded, after several seconds of silence. "To this day I still wonder, and it might have gone differently if I went back in time, but I can't say why I did what I did. It's as much a mystery to me as it is to you."

The response seemed to satisfy them, which was good, since it was absolutely true. He still didn't know when he'd changed his mind about aliens for the split second required to save the life of the one currently standing next to him, beating a spot on his ribs raw as she shouted about cardboard forts and how she definitely wasn't a child. He had to admit, he didn't mind having done it, she wasn't exactly bad company, if a little annoying and very mysterious to him.

"Well, I'm sure Nemesis is glad you made the decision, regardless of why you did it. Isn't that right, Nemesis?" Momo asked, trying to lighten the mood again.

Nemesis grinned, her behavior doing a complete 180 as she stopped beating at him, turning to face the Devilukean. "Yep! I owe Hiro my life, so please, ignore everything you know about me, because I am a changed person!"

"What happened to Yami?" Kotegawa asked suddenly, changing the topic as she remembered the odd absence of the other alien. "She was wandering around the school like usual until about a week ago, and apparently nobody saw her since."

Hiro blinked. "Yami? I saw her a week ago. We ran into each other while I was heading back to class. Haven't seen her since then though."

"Pretty sure she occasionally appears by our house, though." Nemesis added, making everyone look at her. "Or at least, she did until then. I'm pretty sure she's still hanging around though."

"Why would she be near your house?" Yuuki asked, apparently not fazed by how she'd worded "our house". "Considering Naka-, sorry, Hiro-san is the renowned alien-hater of the school, seems like that's the last place she wants to be near."

"Well, that's got an obvious answer." Nemesis said, interrupting what Hiro was about to say. "Because she was stalking him. Seems that you've lost a member of your little harem plan, Momo." she replied, grinning at the last sentence. "And Hiro's xenophobia is kind of by name only at this point."

Momo pouted. "I'm sure there's another explanation." she stated, not wanting to believe that her precious "Harem Plan" was in danger of losing a member.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

As usual, nothing had really changed for Yami. She had still been following Hiro even after he'd caught her, and now, she was getting antsy. She was already on edge when Nemesis had stated that she'd changed, hearing them talking about herself was just too weird.

Better act on that contingency plan now, since the only people around already knew that Nemesis was not human. It would probably be her only chance for a long while, so she had to act now.

She leapt out from her hiding place behind an outlying wall, several strands of hair having already shaped themselves into silver blades.


	15. The Power of Staring at People

"I'm sure Yami has her reasons." Kotegawa stated. "She's notorious for being unpredictable, after all. I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable answer that only she is aware of."

Hiro shrugged. "I don't know much about her since she rarely talks to anybody, but I can tell that she's definitely not one to give her reasons until after the fact, if even then."

"That's for sure. She's probably the most difficult to convince to open up." Momo said, nodding in agreement. "But anyway, we didn't come here to talk about Yami, this is about you and Nemesis."

"Thanks for taking care of Neme-chan for us!" Mea said, back in her normal overly enthusiastic voice. "We'd been searching for her after she was never found after the incident."

Hiro glanced at Nemesis, sensing a sudden feeling of negativity from the girl, though it was masked well and seemed not to be noticed by the others. "There was no need to bother." she said through her teeth, surprising her companion. "I told you already, I'm not the same Nemesis I used to be. The one you're searching for IS dead. She was killed when Hiro saved me, if not before then."

"That's a lie." came another voice, quiet and laced with hatred. Everyone present turned to face the voice, and everyone, other than Hiro, jumped back in surprise.

Yami stood in front of them, a dozen blades spun out of her hair, surrounding her in a deadly dome.

Hiro sighed, the first to speak. "Thought you were watching us. Your dress was poking out from behind the wall." he said calmly, surprising even himself. He should be terrified, as the others seemed to be, but honestly, he wasn't.

Why would he be? She'd had her blades out many times while he was around, usually when Rito was running past the freshman classrooms, and honestly, he wasn't scared of them anymore.

Not that he wasn't scared now, but he wasn't _terrified_. Really, the only thing he feared was the fact that she was angry, and with Yami, even if you aren't the target of her anger, it was very easy to get in her way, and then you've got a bullseye on your back as well.

Hey, he's the protagonist of the story, he can't just _die_ , can he?

"Yami! We agreed not to hurt her! Nemesis isn't our business anymore, she's under Hiro's wing!" Momo shouted, facing the angry Trans.

Yami growled in response. "Not that I'd have known that, what with even you all ignoring me since then. I haven't had anyone that I could be close to since the incident, since all of you decided that I could no longer be trusted! I'm not to blame for Darkness activating, it was all _her_ fault!" she yelled back, pointing at Nemesis. "And I WILL take her down, and you will not stand in my way!"

With that statement, she rushed forward, jumping above the group with the inhuman strength of her race, letting all of her blades fly rapidly forward to where Nemesis and Hiro stood.

The blades met nothing but the concrete, as Nemesis used her own speed to jump out of the way and Hiro instinctively ducked, narrowly avoiding having his head sliced off by one of the blades.

Yami had barely alighted on the ground before launching another attack, pulling the blades out from the ground and cutting with several lightning-fast attacks like she was a villain from Parasyte.

Nemesis matched her attacks with equal speed, but didn't use any of her Trans abilities.

 _Of course she's not attacking, she said herself, she was a failed Trans. The probably CAN'T use the same attacks._ Hiro thought, backing away from the fight. Meanwhile, Yuuki and the girls were standing clear of the area, the expressions on their faces showing that they were most definitely NOT going to try to help the diminutive being.

Hiro, meanwhile, stood closer to the action, but still stayed at a safe distance. After all, he's only human, what could he possibly do against an intergalactic assassin like Yami?

 _Then again, what assassin would attack out of revenge?_ he wondered.

The sequence of Nemesis dodging Yami's blows lasted for several seconds that felt like an eternity to Hiro, before they both started to show signs of tiring.

As if their exhaustion set off a spark, the battle shifted into a new phase, and Nemesis began returning fire, her hair extending as Yami's did, but the tips did not produce blades. Rather, they stayed thin and whiplike, like tendrils of black wire.

 _So that's what she meant when she said she was a failure._ Hiro thought. _Not that she is_ incapable _of acting as a Trans_

Hiro frowned. Nemesis was doing well, considering this was her first fight in a minimum of a month and she was up against the renowned Yami, but he knew that she had little chance of winning this fight. She had none of Yami's weapon capabilities, no unique ability that he knew of, and she was tiring much more quickly. She probably wasn't fully healed yet either, even if her scars had long since faded away.

 _I could help her. I'm not Yami's target, and if I get hurt, then Yuuki and his group can vouch for me and against Yami. If she hurts me she'll lose her already shaky reputation and possibly get expelled, or at the very least, ostracized fully, and hopefully the shock from injuring a bystander will snap her back to sanity...Oh, no. Am I really thinking of going in there? She's an ASSASSIN for god's sake, I should be running for my life right now!_

But, just as had happened when he had first found Nemesis, his brain just inexplicably went "Screw it, let's do this", and he walked forward.

"What are you doing, Hiro-kun?!" Yuuki shouted, now having to hold Mea back by an arm. Momo and Kotegawa helping him. Mea had a crazed look on her face, and she was clearly trying to get into the fight, but even she with her Trans strength was no match for three people, one of which was a Devilukean and one of which had built up enough strength to handle said Devilukean.

Hiro looked back at him. "I'm going to stop her, obviously." he said, a confident tone in his voice whose source he didn't know.

 _I'm screwed."_ he thought to himself, but he kept on walking.

"Yami!" he shouted. "Stop this! Nemesis is not an enemy any longer!" _I think, at least. Based on what I've gathered, I kind of get the feeling I know what triggered Darkness a month ago._

So that must be it. Scratch his earlier comment about her being an international terrorist then, because apparently she was not only that, but she apparently was a lot worse than that.

 _Whatever. Pretty much what I expected out of an alien._ he thought.

The battle seemed to freeze as Yami looked at him, her red eyes practically glowing in anger, before she turned back to Nemesis and resumed attacking, her speed and number of attacks much slower now that she was tiring.

 _Well, that didn't work. Well, might as well go all-out. Heh, if this works I'll have lived up to my name, at least._ Hiro thought to himself, as he continued walking forward, ignoring the protests of the three holding Mea back and not listening to Mea's screeching.

Without even realizing it, he'd walked into the middle of the fight, in between Yami and her target. He felt nothing, no fear, no regret for his actions. Just that same sourceless confidence. He knew he would live, somehow. He was the protagonist, after all, he couldn't just die, couldn't he?

Thinking about it, maybe that's a bit of a death flag.

He stood in front of Yami, facing the angered Trans, and levelled his gaze to her eyes, pouring as much domination and anger as he could into his gaze just as he felt one of her blades hit his neck. He felt nothing when it did, though, and he had a feeling she'd managed to stop it from going any deeper.

For the first time in his life, he truly _glared_ at someone with his special eyes. It was an odd feeling, he had never before actually put any thought into his stares.

And to be honest, it was an amazing sensation, seeing the Trans go from blind rage to squirming where she stood, a look of utter confusion and defeat on her face.

That look turned to one of horror, which confused Hiro, until the pain in his neck returned. His vision started to go fuzzy, and he touched a hand to his neck, feeling the blade that was still lodged there.

It was apparently deeper than he'd thought, and had gone in quite far. He smiled, having no other natural reaction. "Well, at least I managed to calm you down…" he said, before collapsing, the blade twisting before coming out, shifting back into Yami's normal hair and shrinking away.

He thought he heard someone scream his name, though it was hard to tell over the ringing noises in his ears, and saw Nemesis come into his view, though by now he was blacking out.


	16. The Stupid Hero

"Alright, keep it together, Nakamura-san." someone said in a professional-sounding voice, somewhere near him. "Time to wake up."

Hiro's eyes cracked open, and he cringed as his vision was assaulted by harsh white light. When his eyes adjusted, he saw more clearly where he was.

A hospital room, from the looks of it. He turned his head to look around, and cringed as a sharp pain rippled through his neck, reminding him of what had landed him here.

"I'm an idiot." he said, ringing again as the vibrations of his voice stretched the injury. The doctor, a man dressed completely in scrubs, chuckled.

"Yami really did a number on you, didn't she?" he asked, earning a nod from the bedridden student. The doctor nodded. "She told us what happened when we brought you in." He laughed. "Catfight between Trans, a heck of a situation to get yourself into."

Hiro's eyes widened. "How did you-" he was about to ask, but stopped when a sudden flare of pain rocked through his system.

The doctor simply smiled and winked. "I work for Mikado-san. No need to hide anything around me."

Hiro blinked, then nodded slowly. "Right…" he said.

The doctor nodded and went back to checking something on the clipboard he carried. "I have to say, when you came in, I was expecting you to have slipped into a coma by then. The slice had hit bone, but somehow, you were still conscious, if delirious. And now, I'm kind of unsure about whether Mikado-san's report about you is exactly accurate...You're healing hundreds of times faster than a normal human."

Hiro tilted his head, and quickly regretted it, groaning in pain. "What do you mean? How long was I out?"

"A grand total of 8 hours." the doctor said. "And you're already at the stage most people would take months to recuperate to."

Hiro tried to sit up in his shock, but was only met with another jolt that knocked him back down onto the bed. "8 hours!?" he shouted, though it only came out as a hoarse croak, his injured voicebox clamping down on his sound when he tried to raise his voice.

The doctor nodded. "Nemesis said that she was staying somewhere else for the night while you healed, but she visited you earlier. She said she wasn't going to come here because she knew you'd be back home soon. Don't know why, but apparently, she was right. A few more hours at this rate and you'll be back home before dinner."

Hiro smiled as strongly as he could without feeling like he was ripping his neck apart. "Well, that's good. Yeah, didn't expect her to visit at all, really. She may live with me, but we aren't that close."

The doctor nodded, though he had a knowing smile. "Anyway, I'll let you rest for now. Superhuman healing or not, you still need to rest before you're going anywhere."

Hiro nodded as the man walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. When he'd left, Hiro sighed and stared at the ceiling.

"How did I get myself in this mess?" he asked himself quietly. "All I did was try to stop her. I think I succeeded…"

BREAKBREAKBREAK

For once, Yami wasn't anywhere near either Nemesis or the hospitalized Hiro. She had made a silent promise not to visit him, because she had no idea how he'd react.

She wasn't afraid of his reaction to her injuring him. That was his fault for interfering, she knew it, and she assumed he did too. He was by no means an idiot, she knew that.

No, she was afraid of how he had already felt toward her. That glare that he'd given her was...terrifying, to say the least, and she did not take that word lightly. That glare had been filled with hatred, more than she'd ever seen in a person, much less a simple human. It was as if he'd poured all his feelings toward her kind, and aliens as a whole, into that glare and fired it all off at her like a laser beam. It had burned her soul with its intensity.

She wondered why it mattered so much to her. He was simply a human, even with that much hatred, what could he do against her? Look what one attack had done to him, he could never stand against her in a real fight.

So why did she care? What was it about him that shook her so badly? Was it his connection to Nemesis, which looked so much like that of a master and his servant? Sure, they looked like siblings, but Yami could see through the farce, even had she not known who they were prior to her 'research' on the odd human.

So why was he such a fixation for her? What was it about him that made him such a magnet for her interest? After what he did to protect Nemesis, he overshadowed even the girl in Yami's mind.

She would need time to think about this. A lot of time.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

True to the odd doctor's word, Hiro was discharged that same day, and he found himself able to walk out within the next couple hours. It was dark out, as he pretty much expected, and he had a feeling it was quite late.

He touched the bandage covering the side of his neck, frowning. There was no pain anymore, other than the typical stinging feeling you get when you poke a scab, but he'd been instructed to keep the bandage on for the next three days, just in case the wound opened again, though he doubted it would happen.

He looked at his hand, frowning. "This is definitely not normal…" he said to himself, walking from the hospital to the road home. "This is not normal." he repeated.

He was worried, for lack of a better word. By all rights he should be dead right now, there is no way a simple human could be able to heal so fast, especially from such a deep wound.

And he knew he was a full human. He knew his parents, and he wasn't the cheesy anime protagonist who is later revealed to be half-alien or some cliche like that. He was a bona fide 100% human.

Well, I should worry about that later. I should just count my lucky stars I'm alive, though the reason is unknowable. I'm honestly more worried about what happened after I got hit. Hopefully Nemesis is okay…

Wait, of course she is. The doctor had told him she had gone somewhere and would be back by tomorrow. He didn't have any reason to worry. After all, she was a fully capable fighter, as shown by her fight, despite her almost losing, and Hiro had to keep reminding himself that she wasn't the little kid she acted like.

The more he thought about Nemesis, the more he wondered who she really was. He'd seen so many sides of her, and even more during that meeting. Was she a friend or a foe?

He shook his head. She's not an enemy. I may not know much about what happened during the Darkness incident, but I know Nemesis as she is now. She's trustworthy.

He smirked to himself. "Trusting an alien who may or may not have tried to destroy the planet. What have I come to?" he asked himself quietly, heading home.

Once he got home he opened the door and as soon as he was inside, passed out on the couch, cringing slightly as the tape holding the bandage down slid a little on his skin, pulling on his hair follicles. He was asleep in an instant, silently laughing at himself for the irony. He was pulling a Nemesis here, sleeping on the couch because he was too tired to find his bed.

He had quite a strange dream that night about someone digging around his brain and turning his eyes gold and using him as a host to fight aliens. Weird.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

"Wake up, Hiro-nii!" shouted a familiar voice, and Hiro's eyes cracked open, filling his head with the light of early morning. He groaned and sat up, blinking away sleep.

"Hey, Nemesis, glad to see you're okay." Hiro said, looking at her with slightly fuzzy vision. Let it not be said that Hiro can wake up easily.

Nemesis grinned, then frowned and smacked him on the arm. "You idiot, what were you thinking?! A human doesn't stand a snowball's chance in Io against a Trans, especially one as experienced in combat as Yami."

Hiro groaned, touching his bandage lightly with a couple fingers. "Yeah, big mistake on my part, but at least it had the intended effect, right?"

Nemesis laughed. "That was very stupid of you, but at least it ended well." she said, then grinned. "So now, instead of just a stupid human, you're a stupid hero!"

Hiro laughed. "I guess I am a stupid hero. At least I'm a hero, right?"

"Yeah, that accounts for something. Now let's go, we have to get to school."

Hiro blinked, then clapped a palm to his forehead. "I forgot about school!" he exclaimed, looking at himself.

Nemesis laughed. "Just wear that again, no reason to take a shower now or you'll be late." she said.

Hiro hesitated, then sighed and nodded, standing up. "Yeah, guess you're right...Hopefully nobody knows what happened yesterday…"

And hopefully nobody knows that he's now apparently The Stupid Hero.


	17. A Child Named Camellia

Luck was not on Hiro's side. Apparently the incident had been seen by some sophomores, and by the time they'd gotten to the school, rumors of the battle had reached the entire school.

"Nakamura!" shouted Yukihime, in her usual loud, obnoxious voice. "Q&A, right here, right now!"

It was like a bomb went off, and chaos ensued in the classroom, people once again crowding him and firing off questions as they had when Nemesis had first transferred in.

Hiro's eye twitched, but as last time, he kept his cool. "Yukihime, please explain what's going on?" he asked, though he had a sinking feeling he knew the answer already.

Someone had seen. And even if they hadn't, they could have pieced together what had happened from his bandage and disheveled appearance.

The class went silent as Yukihime cleared her throat to respond. "A group of sophomores saw Yami attack Nemesis, and you tried to protect her and got yourself hit and went down. She disappeared after the ambulance came."

 _Thank god._ Hiro thought. _It sounds like the rumor got warped at least a little. At least I don't have to explain Nemesis's Trans._

Hiro sighed, deciding to go with that story. Much easier to explain. "Yami got some weird idea in her head that Nemesis was an enemy and attacked. I kind of tried to stop her...I wasn't really thinking." _True enough, I really_ wasn't _thinking when I did that…_

"So now you're literally a hero." Haruhi said, in her normal quiet voice, barely audible over the general sound. "It's not just your name anymore."

Apparently that thought hadn't crossed the minds of the others, and they started talking all at once again. At least there were less today that usual, since he and Nemesis had come earlier than usual.

Hiro did the trick he'd done the last time this happened, staring at the people in front of him and speaking softly and firmly. "Be quiet." he stated, and just like last time, the class went silent.

"Thank you." he said. "Now, one at a time."

"You seem pretty fine for having been hit in the neck by Yami's blade." Yukihime said. Hiro looked at her and nodded.

"It wasn't as deep as it seemed, and it missed any vitals, luckily, or there'd be no more Hiro."

Several other students asked questions, before Haruhi asked the million-dollar one, the same that Mea had asked before, albeit less detailed because she did not know what Nemesis really was.

"Why did you protect her?" she asked. "I've seen you and her together a lot, and it kind of seems to me that you're not really that close. It almost seems like an act."

Hiro blinked, looking at her. She cringed and backed up, her shy nature kicking in as soon as she'd asked the question. Apparently she'd forgotten that she was always nervous, especially around the odd man.

Hiro knew the reason, of course, but he pretended he wasn't aware of her feelings. It was simpler that way.

He blinked, remembering that she'd asked a question. "We're not THAT close, but we're cousins, aren't we? Why wouldn't I want to protect my family?" he said smoothly. He'd have kept eye contact with her while he said it, had she been able to make contact in the first place.

Haruhi nodded, the answer apparently being satisfying, unless it was simply that she was afraid to contradict him.

After he answered that, there were a few more questions, none quite as heavy-hitting as the one she'd stumbled upon, and class went on seemingly as normal, though there were occasional glances his way. Oddly enough, that day he got far more looks than Nemesis did, unlike usual.

He knew his actions hadn't made him popular, so it must have just been curiosity. He understood their interest, he had never showed much of an altruistic side before, but he doubted it would last long. Give it a couple days. By the time his bandage could be removed they'll have forgotten about him again.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

After the school day ended, Hiro sighed to himself as he walked home. Nemesis had wanted to stay late to find Yuuki to ask him something, so he was alone for once.

"Why am I starting to get used to this?" he asked himself. "A month ago I was consistently ignored, but since Nemesis showed up people have been approaching me. It's like they aren't afraid of my eyes anymore…"

That thought both scared him and made him feel a little happier. If his eyes had lost their creepiness factor, then that meant he could talk to people, but at the same time, they had been what had saved Nemesis from being killed by Yami. He didn't know exactly how he felt about such a possibility.

He stopped at a crosswalk and waited for the light to turn white so he could cross, lost in his thoughts.

He was snapped out of them when he heard someone scream from across the street.

"Camellia!" shouted someone. "Get back here!"

He looked to the source of the voice, and saw a woman standing at the crosswalk diagonal to where he was. She was yelling to a young child, 5 or so years old, who had run into the middle of the street.

Hiro became aware of a presence, turning his head down the road on their side. A car was coming, and the child was in the middle of the road. She wouldn't have enough time to avoid, and the car was decelerating far too slowly.

Hiro didn't think, his legs just moved under him as he bolted across the intersection, grabbing the girl and squatting facing away from the car, holding a hand out as if such a pathetic motion would do anything to stop the car.


	18. Wasn't This In Parasyte?

"The Stupid Hero" really describes me well, doesn't it? Hiro thought. I could have just pushed her out of the way, there was no need to protect her, and now I'm dead too.

He waited for several seconds, before opening his eyes, which he hadn't realized he'd closed. "Wait…"

Everything was normal. He was still in the intersection, he still had Camellia wrapped in his arm, safe behind the wall of flesh that was his body.

He blinked, looking to where the car had been coming from, and his eyes widened.

The car had apparently hit him, but it hadn't hurt him. In fact, he'd barely felt it as it wrapped around his outstretched hand.

His hand was buried in the car's hood, and he felt some kind of inner fluid around his fingers. Had he somehow punched through the engine?

 _Suspension of disbelief won't be able to explain away this one._ he thought, staring at the metal surrounding his arm, which looked as if it had been folded around his hand. _Yeah...Hopefully the weirdness censor here extends to this too._

"Camellia!" the woman shouted, running across the street to the duo.

Hiro let go of the child, who ran back to her mother, who embraced her as soon as she was close enough. The woman looked at Hiro, tears in her eyes, and smiled. "Thank you, sir!" she exclaimed. "Thank you for saving my child!"

Hiro smiled, deciding to ignore the hand that was currently stuck in the car, as the distraught woman clearly didn't care. Her child took top priority, as she should.

"No problem, I kind of just acted without thinking." he replied.

Camellia looked at him, tilting her head. "Are you an alien?" she asked him, in a surprisingly mature voice.

Hiro blinked, then laughed nervously. "No, I'm not. I don't know what happened, to be honest." he said.

The little girl blinked. "You smell like one." she said simply. Hiro frowned, unsure how to react to the slightly creepy comment.

It took an hour and 4 people working under Mikado-sensei to get his arm unstuck from the car's engine, and the driver was convinced not to tell anyone of the incident, and that the repairs would be paid in full.x

Hiro sat at the edge of the crosswalk, nursing his arm with his other hand. He looked at one of the people who'd helped him out, an alien from the looks of the slitted eyes.

"I'm...human, aren't I?" he asked. He was sure he was, but now, he couldn't ignore that SOMETHING was off.

The alien hesitated, before nodding. "This was just a freak incident." she stated. "The car's engine and hood were substandard and a design flaw combined with the momentum of the car allowed your hand to punch through the metal. It was not your fault. You are human." she explained.

 _That...I guess that makes sense, though it sounds improbable to me…_ Hiro thought to himself, looking at his now-freed hand. _But what other explanation do I have?_

 _Hopefully that's true. I want to be human._

BREAKBREAKBREAK

When he came home, Hiro decided not to mention the incident to Nemesis. He was still trying to wrap his head around it, and he had a feeling Nemesis would just confuse him if she tried to say something about it.

So, when he walked in, he simply sat on the couch and took out a manga he'd had in his school bag.

"Hey, you're home!" Nemesis said, walking from her room. "You're later than usual, what happened?"

Hiro groaned involuntarily, then internally slapped himself for his reaction. He quickly made up an excuse. "Traffic was ridiculous, I was stuck at a crosswalk for like half an hour." he said.

 _That is the worst excuse I could have possibly come up with_. he thought to himself.

Luckily, Nemesis didn't seem to understand how crosswalk work, and she simply smiled. "Hate it when that happens." she said. "How's your neck?"

Hiro blinked, touching the bandage. "I'd completely forgotten about it. It doesn't hurt anymore. Must be almost healed." Somehow.

Nemesis nodded, and if it didn't sound crazy thinking about it, she almost looked like she knew what was going on with him.

 _Conflicted about my own species...I feel like an anime protagonist_. Hiro thought.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

After two days, Hiro was finally allowed by his doctor to remove his bandage, revealing a scar along the side of his neck but otherwise no damage.

He rubbed his neck and grinning, sitting on the patient's table. "Feels good taking that thing off, it got sweaty under the cotton."

"Sweaty in February?" the doctor asked curiously.

Hiro waved a hand. "Hot inside, and it gets stuck in the fabric when I leave the house. But it doesn't matter now."

After that, he had to take a small check-up before he was discharged from the hospital, ready to lead life as normal.

Well, as normal as it can be when you've just recently experienced yourself punching through a car engine, but yeah. Back to normal.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

At school, as seemed to be getting more frequent recently, people were crowding around him, asking random questions about his newly-revealed scar, while Saero-sensei desperately tried to calm them down. Poor guy, he was a good teacher, but he was liable to get a heart attack every time this happened.

"Excuse me, class, please-"

"Please calm down everyone..."

"Get in your seats, it's time to start…"

And Hiro's usual trick didn't work today. It was as if the class had caught something that made them unable to stop.

So he decided to try something different today, and lightly rapped his fist on the table…

And heard a loud crack, as the wood split under his hand.

The class went silent, staring at the cracks spiderwebbing out from the site he'd touched the table on.

 _...Definitely something wrong with me._ he thought, but cleared his throat.

"Alright, Saero-sensei, please continue." he said calmly, as if he hadn't just cracked a desk like it was glass.


	19. Guardian Angel of Darkness

Surprisingly, nobody questioned his reaction, and it only took a few days for people to forget about it, the only thing suggesting that it still mattered their occasional glances at the cracks across the desk's surface.

All in all, it didn't seem to have changed their views of the oddball that is Nakamura Hiro. At least they'd stopped asking him questions any time anything remotely interesting happened.

 _Which means that something big is about to happen_. Hiro thought.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

Looks like it didn't take long for that something big to happen. It had taken less than a few hours for it to happen.

Hiro calmly ate his lunch, Nemesis sitting across from him on the concrete of the roof. "Nemesis, we're going to need a little more money this month, thanks to you eating me out of house and home again. Think there's anything we can do to make some extra money? You need to start pulling your own weight around here too, you eat 70% of what I buy and do absolutely nothing to help out."

Nemesis pouted. "I do help! I clean stuff for you sometimes!"

"But that doesn't get us any money, and the government only pays me enough allowance for one person. We've only managed this long because I don't need to eat as much as most people."

His eyes twitched as he raised his arm to eat another bite of his rice, fighting the resistance pulling on the appendage.

He turned his head to face his side. "And what the heck are you doing latched onto my arm, Yami?" he asked in irritation.

The red-eyed Trans had been stuck to his arm like a leech since he'd left the room to head to the usual lunch location.

She looked at him, her face devoid of expression, replaced with the typical anime stare. "I'm guarding you." she said simply.

Hiro's eye twitched again. "And what is that supposed to mean? You caused me to go to the hospital in the first place!"

"Exactly. You are a stupid hero, and you do stupid things that can get you hurt, so you need to be protected from your own stupidity."

Honestly, completely logical, if rude, but Yami wasn't known for her tact.

"And why does that require you to be so...close?" Hiro asked.

"Because you live with Nemesis and that's one of the stupidest decisions you've made." Yami responded flatly.

"That hurts, Yami. You still don't trust me?" Nemesis asked, though her grin suggested that she really didn't feel hurt by her words. She probably pretty much expected it.

Yami looked at her. "Of course I don't trust you." she said. "But I've decided to call off our battle. I would rather not have Hiro jump in again and get himself killed."

"While I appreciate the concern, you've never been known to protect people. Why now of all times, and why me?"

"Because when you fell on me you immediately backed away." she said. "Yuuki Rito would hesitate, because he is a pervert, but you did not do such a thing."

Hiro blinked. "So...because I have a little self control you decided I'm worth protecting?"

Yami shook her head. "No, that's just one reason. I've been following you for weeks, and in all that time you've been nothing but kind to Nemesis and to others that you were willing to talk to." She blinked. "Other than Yukihime Murano, but I understand why you hate her."

Nemesis laughed at that. "I'm not going to pretend I understand the way you think, but you're right, that Yukihime-san is a jerk." she said. "She blames us for everything!"

Hiro sighed. "She's not a jerk and I don't hate her. She's just overly cautious about everything." He looked at Yami. "So, what, are you trying to be some kind of guardian to me? I don't need one."

Yami shook her head again. "I will protect you, Nakamura-san." she said. "I can be your guardian angel."

BREAKBREAKBREAK

Yami remained latched onto his arm for the entire day, refusing to let go even when he told her she wasn't supposed to be in his class.

There were many awkward stares from classmates that day, though none dared to go near to ask questions, afraid of the established assassin's skills.

Even though right now she looked more like an enamoured kohai than the alien that had nearly brought the world to its knees a month ago.

In any case, it was quite the odd picture, the renowned alien-hater having the most dangerous known one latched to him like a schoolgirl in love with her senpai.

Not to mention that alien had nearly killed him less than two weeks ago. The situation just got stranger the more anyone thought about it.

So nobody did. It was easier to ignore the elephant in the room than to confront it.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

"So now you're not even going to try to stalk me like you usually do?" Hiro asked, as he and Nemesis were walking home, Yami still attached to his arm.

Yami shook her head, pushing herself closer to him, if that was even possible.

"No point when you already know." she stated flatly.

Hiro's eye twitched in irritation. "I knew long before today."

"Then it's because I must stay close to you to maximize my chances of reaching you should something occur."

Nemesis laughed teasingly. "I think you just want to be with him." she said, making Yami glare at her.

Hiro sighed and shook his head. "You sure you're fine with this, Nemesis? She DID try to kill you recently."

Nemesis laughed. "I don't care about that, I did kind of deserve it. I won't get in the way of your budding romance!"

Hiro's eye twitched again. Her tone made it obvious she was joking, but still. He would never do such a thing, especially not with an alien. Despite how things may have seemed recently, his hatred for their kind still burned brightly, and while he now was willing to accept their existence and even considered Nemesis a friend, he still didn't trust them.

And having this one, known for her violent nature, so close to him, he really did not feel safe, though she may be trying to get across such a feeling.

 _Honestly, with all these aliens suddenly starting to surround me, I think I can sympathize with that Yuuki kid's feelings. It's not fun being the object of so much attention._

When they got home, Yami followed them right in, finally letting go of his arm and plopping herself down on the couch like she owned the place. "I'm going to stay here now. I already asked Mikado-sensei to register me as living here, because it's better here than with her and I have to be with you at all times." she said, in her typical blank voice.

Hiro blinked, then sighed. "Can I do anything to get you to leave?" he asked, as Nemesis decided not to deal with this and just sidestepped around him, heading for her room.

Yami shook her head, staring at him with her bright red eyes. "No, there isn't."

Hiro sighed. "I don't have a room for you."

"I can sleep with you."

His eye twitched. "Absolutely not."

"Then I shall take the couch."

"That's fine. But we don't have enough food for you."

"I can purchase my own food, and I am able to afford rent if you desire."

Hiro blinked, then grinned. That had struck a cord. "Welcome aboard, then, Yami."


	20. Hiro's Shield

It took some explaining for Saero-sensei to accept Yami's presence in the class, but eventually, Hiro was able to convince him that she wouldn't be a bother. She'd even backed him up, stating that she would not need a desk and would simply sit on the floor next to him.

Once again, nobody dared question her presence, other than Haruhi, who went up to her before class started in a rare brave mood, squatting down to talk to her.

"So why are you here anyway? Nakamura-kun isn't known for fraternizing with aliens."

Yami simply looked at her and smiled. "I'm his bodyguard, it is my sworn duty to protect him."

"Why are you doing that? Didn't you nearly kill him recently?"

"That's precisely why. I owe him for my actions, and for attempting to injure his...cousin." Her voice hitched slightly at the term, though it passed quickly and Haruhi didn't seem to have noticed. "And because it was my fault that he went to the hospital, it shall be my duty to keep him from going there again."

"How long are you going to protect him for?"

"Indefinitely. Probably until I die."

Hiro groaned. "Yami, don't make promises you can't keep. And I really don't need you here, I can handle myself."

Yami looked at him, eyeing the cracks on his desk. "Really? It seems to me that you could end up destroying yourself trying to get your newfound strength under control."

Hiro blinked, then tched, looking away from her. "It was just a fluke, there's nothing wrong with me."

Yami tilted her head. "Don't be so quick to deny a gift, Nakamura-san. You may have unseen talent hidden within you."

Hiro growled, snapping his head to face her, his eyes practically burning with a rage that came out of nowhere. "Don't you dare say what you're implying." he said in a whisper, clearly trying to keep himself from yelling.

He'd never lost his temper before, and the sheer force of his voice made poor shy Haruhi almost pass out. She backed away quickly and went back to her seat, not wanting to have that anger directed at her.

Hiro tched again, looking forward at the front of the room, refusing to look the yellow-haired Trans in the eye. "I am human. That is, was, and always will be who I am. I am not one of you."

"I did not suggest any such thing, Nakamura-san." Yami said, still in her maddeningly emotionless tone. "I merely said that you are exceptio-"

"Quiet!" he growled, interrupting her. "I don't care what you have to say about me, nothing that an alien says can be trusted anyway! All of you are liars, you just say what advances your own agendas!"

The few people at class already stared at him. Never had he lost his temper, and never had he raised his voice. This was truly the essence of the man's intense prejudice against the aliens, reigned in until now.

"Why are you really following me around, anyway? You've never trusted people, as little as I trust you!"

Yami didn't appear to be visibly affected by his sudden explosion, though who knew what was going on in that head of hers. Yami was a riddle wrapped in a mystery wrapped in an enigma, nobody, not even Yuuki, has been able to crack her shell.

And it seemed doubtful that someone like Hiro would be able to do what Yami's old crush couldn't.

Hiro was by now breathing hard, glaring at her with the same intensity he had when he'd interfered with her battle. He had stood up at some point, and was holding himself up with his hands on his desk.

No more words came from his mouth. He simply stood still, glaring at her, and she simply stared back, meeting his gaze.

After several seconds, she looked away, breaking the staring contest, and smiled, blinking away the feeling of fear she'd felt last time he'd looked at her that way.

"That's good." she said. "Let it all out. I am here to protect you."

Hiro blinked, and it was like a switch in his brain flipped. He instantly seemed to calm, slowly sitting back down in his seat, still staring at her.

"I am here to protect you, from enemies, and from yourself." the Trans said, maintaining her smile.

Hiro was silent for several seconds, simply staring at the girl. "Say that again." he said quietly.

Yami nodded. "I said that I will protect you, from your enemies and from yourself." she repeated, with that same smile.

That same irritating smile. "Why?" Hiro asked. "Why would you do that for someone who holds no respect for you? I hate you, I hate all of you."

Yami simply retained her smile. "Because I don't hate you. I don't mind you hating me, I'm sure you have your reasons for your prejudice, and you have every right to feel as you wish to. But I wish to protect you, and to do that, I must first gain your trust. Slap me, kick me, stab me in my sleep. No matter how many times you attack me, I will always come back to you. It is my duty as your guardian angel."

 _...Why does she sound like a cliche character from a romance series?_ Hiro thought, then shook his head. Don't think of that now, respond. _People are staring._

He was silent for several moments, before sighing, looking down at his desk. "Fine." he said quietly. "You can stay. But please don't try so hard. It makes me feel like you're attracted to me."

Yami blinked, then looked away, breaking her gaze. "Yeah, it kind of does, now that I think about it…" she said, then went silent.

Class went on as normal, though people stared at the two, those who were not present for the outburst still able to sense an odd tension in the air between them.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

"I have to go do a checkup with Mikado-sensei, so just head home without me, okay?" Nemesis asked after school had ended.

Hiro nodded, though he was clearly distracted, lost in his thoughts. Yami had finally stopped attaching herself to his arm everywhere they went, but she still was close behind him, practically pushing herself into him.

He silently thanked her for keeping at least a little difference between them, he might have snapped if she pressed herself against his back.

"Yeah, okay. Be careful, okay?" he said. Nemesis grinned.

"You've seen me in action, you know my skill. I'll be fine!"

Hiro smirked. "I meant, careful with Mikado-sensei. Who knows what she'll try, you never know with her."

"That's the truth…" Yami said, earning a glance from her self-assigned charge.

She simply shrugged. "I used to live with her, remember. I know what she's like."

The group split up, Nemesis heading deeper into the school toward Mikado-sensei's office, while the other two headed outside to head home. "Still not really sure what to do for you living space, Yami." Hiro said, apparently having forgotten, or just pretending to have forgotten, the incident that morning.

"That is alright, Nakamura-san." Yami said. "I hardly sleep anyway, I am perfectly alright with just the couch."

"I don't know, that sounds kind of...unfair. I mean, you're paying me to live there and all…"

Yami tilted her head. "I believe you told me that you hate me. I think being paid to host someone you hate cancels out, so there is no reason to give me any conditions you would give to someone you care about." she said, in her usual logic.

Hiro sighed. "Whatever." he said, before another voice caught his attention.

"Hiro-kun, there you are!" He looked to the source of the voice, and made a sound between a groan and a chuckle at who it was.

It was one of the Devilukean sisters that had met them before Yami's attack, Momo if memory served, and tagging along behind her was Mea, who was carrying a small box in one hand.

"Hello, Hiro-kohai!" Mea said excitedly, holding up the box. "We come bearing gifts!"


	21. Momo's Harem Plan, MK II

Hiro blinked, bewildered at the box that Mea had suddenly pushed into his face. "Uhh...What is this?" he asked, confused. "And what are you doing here?"

Mea just stood grinning at him, holding up the box, and Momo sighed. "Mea, you have to explain why we're here, _then_ give him the box."

Mea looked at her, then grinned and lowered the box, laughing as she rubbed her head, her hair flicking behind her in a subtle Trance movement that almost made it past Hiro's eyes...almost. "Sorry, I got excited again!" she said, turning back to Hiro. "I'm joining your harem now!" she said excitedly, cradling the box in her hands.

"..." Hiro had no idea how to respond, for several reasons. First of all, what harem? Second, why was she joining it? She'd tried several times over the course of the year to get him to join Yuuki's group, but surely that was no reason for her to actually decide to switch over from that kid. Plus, she wasn't exactly close to him, they'd not even spoken very much since he explained Nemesis's living situation to them.

There were other reasons, but those were the biggest. He thought at first that she was just kidding, but her face was serious, albeit also filled with her usual overly enthusiastic energy.

He half-expected her to attempt to bind him with her Psycho Dive ability, but luckily, her hair stayed limp.

Hiro struggled to pull up a response, and his hesitating lead Yami to reply first, pulling his arm and stepping sideways so she was pressing his arm into her chest, much to his embarrassment as he looked away from her.

"Nakamura-san does not need another. I have already sworn to be his guardian angel, and I will not allow you to take my place."

Mea tilted her head, still with that stupidly happy grin. "No, I don't need to protect him, I'm sure he's fine as he is."

Momo smiled. "It was kind of partially my idea." she said. "I already have a Harem Plan in effect for Rito, and since you've been sort of eating away at Rito's prospects after taking Nemesis and Yami, I figured, why not instate a plan for you too? Loss now to prevent later loss, isn't that how these things work?"

Hiro blinked, shifting in his position, uncomfortable at Yami's pressing. "And why is this necessary? One, I don't have a harem. Two, I don't want one. I'm not interested in that kind of stuff. Three, how in the world did you convince Mea of all people?"

Mea laughed. "That's simple, I was already kind of thinking about it. Rito-senpai is nice and all, but I wasn't really attracted to him. It was just fun to mess with him, and his dreams are so easily manipulated. Really the only thing about him that I truly like is his hardiness. He just can't seem to get hurt. That's really it though...But Hiro-kohai is different! You're as strong as Rito-senpai, that much is obvious from you surviving Yami's attack, and you also are very intelligent! I'm able to read people just by watching them, and I've seen a lot from you just from simple observation. You interest me already, so of course I was willing to play along when Momo-san offered to have me switch over!"

Hiro blinked, trying to process the Trans' rapid speech in his quick-thinking, but still only human, brain. When he finally figured out what she was saying, he glanced at Yami, who looked back at him.

"Already took that into account." Momo said, without him even saying anything, making the two look at her. She smiled and nodded. "Yami's attack and her deciding to protect you were all part of my calculations. It seems that I knew Yami well enough to predict her actions, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did…" Hiro said, the look on his face betraying how creeped out he was by the odd alien. He trusted none of them, but this one he trusted the least. Momo may seem like a straightforward, optimistic girl on the outside, but on the inside, she was a manipulative demon. He knew she had some sort of ulterior motive, and claiming that it was to benefit Yuuki-senpai was doubtful, so now he just needed to figure out what it was.

Yami was much more vocal about her mistrust, as would be expected from the girl with no filter. "What are you really after, Momo Belia Deviluke?" she asked. "You never do anything without some reward for you, so what is it you want?"

Momo grinned. "No, this time, I truly am just after Rito's wellbeing, and hey, it's safer to push all the dangerous ones to someone else, right? Nothing in it for me but Rito's safety and assurance that my original plan will run smoothly."

"And I just want to know more about Hiro-kohai! You've always been so distant, it'll be fun getting to know you!"

She pushed the box to him again. "Now open the present, you'll like it!"

Hiro hesitated, before accepting the box, Yami's proximity causing his movement to slow slightly.

He looked at the box, before shrugging and opening it, seeing no reason to reject it, at least not now, after he'd listened to them speak.

When he saw what was inside, he blinked, his mouth opening at the sight of the objects, his body stiffening as he recognized them.

Two pictures, hand-drawn from the looks of them, and clearly several years old. But that wasn't what surprised him.

What surprised him was what was drawn on them. They were of him as a child.


	22. Bad Memories

Hiro stood, frozen in place as he stared at the drawings. He didn't move an inch, not even blinking as he stared at them.

Mea just stood there, grinning at him with that same enthusiastic smile. She seemed oblivious to his reaction, not paying the slightest bit of attention to the shadow that seemed to pass over his eyes.

But Yami noticed. She was still pressed against him, she felt his body stiffen and could sense the cloud over his being. "Hiro, are you alright?" she asked softly, trying her best to sound as concerned as she felt.

Hiro just stared, seeming not to have even noticed that she'd said anything.

Momo seemed just as oblivious as Mea, smiling at him. "She insisted on giving you something to make you trust here, and this is what she decided." she said.

"I drew them myself! Are they good?" Mea asked excitedly.

When Hiro still didn't respond, she blinked and tilted her head, looking at him intently, trying to see any sort of response.

She finally noticed his hands, trembling as they held the box. "Hiro-kohai?" she asked, a note of worry appearing in her voice.

Hiro was gone before the box hit the ground, the pictures inside missing.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

It took half an hour of searching for the missing student, in which time Nemesis returned from her checkup with Mikado-sensei. Upon hearing about what had happened, she joined the hunt.

It didn't take long, after she suggested they try their house. He'd likely be there, and she had a feeling she knew which room he'd be in.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

Nemesis's hunch had been correct. He was in the room she'd not been allowed to go in when he set up the guest room for her.

"Hiro?" she asked quietly, knocking lightly on the door, which was cracked open, but not enough to see inside.

There was some shuffling, before the door opened, Hiro standing in front of it, blocking the view for the three Trans and the pink-haired Devilukean. In one hand he gripped the drawings, crumpled slightly under his fingers but otherwise intact.

"...I'm sorry." he said, looking at the group, especially at Mea. "I overreacted. It's just...Mea, these brought up bad memories for me."

"What did you remember?" Momo asked, clearly concerned for him. He sighed and shook his head, putting on a smile, though even someone as inexperienced with emotion as Yami was would be able to tell it was fake.

"Nothing, it doesn't matter. I'm fine now." He turned to Mea. "So...Harem Plan MK II? I guess I have no reason to decline your offer, so why not? It's not like I trust you any less than the others."

That was a red flag, and everyone knew it. He had accepted Momo's idea far too quickly. Something about those drawings had changed something inside him, but it was obvious none of them would be able to pick out that information unless he was good and ready to give it to them.

His reaction had been odd enough. If this had happened back before he met Nemesis, he'd have clocked Mea without hesitation.

To actually apologize for running away...he'd matured. A lot. That was obvious to them all.

But with the good came the bad, as anyone could see if they just looked into his eyes. Where once the silver was bright and terrifying to those who looked at it, now was dulled, as if meeting Nemesis had cast some sort of shadow over his soul.

Where once his eyes could drive away anyone with just a look, now he struggled to maintain his glare. Even since Yami's attack against Nemesis, they had dulled so far that he found it much more difficult to win his contests of domination with Nemesis.

Now, that spark that lit his eyes seemed all but gone as he stared at them, none of them feeling the effects they usually would.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

"Yami, I keep telling you, stop coming here. Go to your class." Hiro said, standing in front of the door to his classroom. "You're a junior, aren't you?"

"I rarely go to class anyway, and Saero-sensei has already said that he is alright with me being here with you." Yami stated, standing firm in front of him.

Hiro sighed, touching his forehead with his fingers and shaking his head. "That's because everybody's afraid of you, Yami...And nobody wants to question why you follow me around everywhere."

"I have made my intentions very clear, Nakamura-san." she replied. "My only goal is to keep you safe. They have no reason to fear me unless they intend to injure you."

"Hiro-nii, just ignore her." Nemesis said from her seat.

From next to her came the familiar tch of the class president. "Nakamura, just sit down. You've somehow got her on a collar and leash already, might as well accept it and try not to make her mad. I'm not dying thanks to you sending her on another rampage."

Hiro sighed. "Whatever. Aren't you still after the Yuuki kid, Yami?"

Yami shook her head. "Technically my contract dissolved a long time ago when I learned that it was moot thanks to incorrect information. I was simply following Yuuki Rito for my personal honor. Now I see no reason to continue because I have a new directive that will properly utilize my skills."

Hiro shrugged. "Still not entirely sure why you decided to follow me around, but-"

"Hiro-kohai!" shouted the now-familiar voice of the other Trans, and Mea ran to the door from somewhere down the hall.

Hiro's palm met his forehead. "I'm trying to go to class, why do people keep showing up?!" he asked. "What do you want, Mea?"

"Another alien?" someone asked from somewhere in the class, and Hiro's eye twitched.

 _Yes, another freaking alien, please don't take it the wrong way. I still hate them, and this doesn't change anything. If anything it just makes me more annoyed that they exist. he thought. Seriously, they've started following me like flies. I'm even more sympathetic with the Yuuki kid's situation than ever, now that I know the feeling._

But, there was nothing he could do about it. He wasn't stupid, he knew that any one of them could kill him in a heartbeat, and he didn't trust them not to do it when he wasn't looking. He'd have to play along until he was certain he could overpower even one of them, and THEN he would express his hatred in full. Yelling at Yami was one thing, she barely reacted, but flat-out attacking one was in a whole other league of stupid if he wasn't prepared.

That it was Momo who had put Mea up to this "Harem Plan MK II" made him doubly suspicious. That girl was a demon in a human's skin, if the pointed tail wasn't enough to make him suspicious.

He was interrupted from his internal turmoil by Mea's response to his question.

"Momo told me to check on you, since you seemed down when you came to school." the magenta-haired girl said. "Plus I was worried about you anyway, you didn't respond when I tried calling you."

Hiro's eye twitched again. "Was that seriously you? How did you even get my number?"

"...Nemesis told me." she replied, laughing nervously. "Was I supposed to ask you directly?"

Hiro sighed, shaking his head. "I don't give my number out to many people for a reason. I don't like getting calls from people. I only gave it to Nemesis so she could call me in the event of an emergency, after Yami attacked."

Yami coughed to catch their attention. "I'm right here, you know." she said. "Please don't talk about me like I'm not standing right in front of you."

"Yami, go sit down." Hiro said exasperatedly. Truth be told, he'd forgotten about the blonde. Dangerous considering what she was.

Surprisingly, she didn't protest, simply nodding and heading to her seat on the floor next to his desk.

Looking at her and how she was sitting sort of reminded Hiro of a dog. He silently thanked the class as a whole for not assuming she was a slave or something. He'd hate having that kind of reputation.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

"Sir. I have come with a report on the boy."

He looked up from his thoughts, staring at the messenger. The man was tall and lanky, dwarfing the short but well-built man he was speaking to, but otherwise, he was quite plain in appearance, other than the long black tail coming from the back of his pants. The tail ended in a small, thin arrow, capped with a point.

The man nodded. "Well, tell me." he said. "I don't have all day."

The messenger nodded. "Eve Lunatique attacked him recently, but has now sworn to protect him. The failed Trans still has not revealed her true abilities to him."

The man grinned, his pointed teeth showing underneath his thin lips. "Good. Very good. Everything's going according to plan. Did Momo orchestrate his meeting with Kurosaki Mea as I predicted?"

The messenger nodded. "She did, and Mea has now officially joined his harem." he replied.

The grin widened. "Excellent. Everything's working out well. I don't know why I bothered using Yuuki Rito as the test subject, this backup kid is so much more effective, and so much more entertaining!"

The messenger smiled. "Evidently, it was a good decision to intervene 7 years ago, wasn't it?"

The man laughed heartily, practically holding himself up by the arm of his chair in his laughter. "Nakamura Hiro." he said. "Why did we shove him into the backups? He's the most perfect test subject we've ever had!"

He sat up straight and grinned again, now speaking much more quietly, with a more professional tone. "Then let's keep observing. Do not intervene yet, let us save that for the proper time." he ordered. "Now, leave my presence!" he added, waving his arm and setting his head on his hand, propping it up with his elbow.

The messenger nodded, and with a bow, walked out of the room, leaving the man alone.

The man simply smiled again, inhaling deeply. "Everything is going smoothly on both fronts, it seems. Now, all there is to do is wait. No sense in getting involved where I am not needed."


	23. Yami's Concern

Hiro was woken up by the sound of someone tapping on his door.

He groaned and stood up, holding a hand down on his nightstand so that he wouldn't topple over in his tiredness. "What do you want? It's 5 in the morning…"

He went to the door and opened it, staring at whoever had decided to interrupt his sleep.

He groaned again. "Yami...what are you doing up this late, and why are you waking me up?"

Yami shifted in her position, apparently...uncomfortable? She looked almost nervous from the way she stood, though it was entirely possible Hiro's sleepy brain was misinterpreting it.

"Can I come in?" she asked, looking down.

Hiro blinked, then sighed. "Fine, come on." he said, moving out of the way and waving his hand.

The Trans nodded and walked in, sitting on the bed. Hiro, in his tired state, decided it was a good idea to sit next to her, though thee more logical part of his mind knew he was probably vulnerable right now due to his lack of coordination.

Though honestly, looking at her face, he didn't really feel in danger like he usually did around them. She seemed genuinely worried about something. And he knew by now that when Yami put on any expression other than dead flatness, there was something wrong.

"So, why are you waking me up this early? Did you even sleep at all?" he asked, now a little more awake than before as his body got used to being up.

Yami shook her head. "I usually am up late, but today, I was up for far longer than usual. I was...worried about something, and I wanted to ask you something."

"What is it?" Hiro asked, slightly concerned. Hey, he may hate them, but he wasn't a bad person. He knew to feel concerned when a girl was worried and came to him to ask something. If anything her doing it despite knowing his hatred only increased his concern, it had to be something major in that case.

Yami looked down again, before looking right at him. "Do you hate me?" she asked.

Hiro blinked, unsure how to respond. He knew how he felt, and he knew she was aware of his feelings towards aliens, but he didn't really want to just flat-out say it to her, though he had many times before. Something was...different about this time, something that made him unwilling to say what they both knew was true.

"I know how you feel about aliens as a whole, but I want to know how you feel about me in particular. Do you hate me?" she amended.

Well, that put him in a predicament. He knew how he felt about her species, but...he had no idea how to answer her now.

How did he feel about her? She wasn't a bad person, not really. Just socially awkward, and honestly, he was the same way. Though her awkwardness occasionally could lead to danger for anyone involved, though she had been doing very well to control herself since the Darkness incident, other than the one time against Nemesis.

He still found it hard to believe that this meek, secretive girl could possibly have been the crazed lunatic that nearly destroyed the planet. That just didn't seem possible to him, even knowing what she was already capable of.

He shook his head. Now was not the time to be doing this. She was looking at him expectantly, he had to think of a response.

He looked down at the ground as he pondered what to say. "Why do you think that?" he asked carefully, not confirming or denying her question.

"My only goal is to protect you, and yet you very strongly try to push me away whenever I attempt to come near you. I know I may be reading too much into it, as I do not know you very well despite how much I've observed you, but I can't help but feel that you just don't want me around…"

"That's...not true." Hiro replied, making her blink and tilt her head, her expression sad and somber. "I don't...hate you specifically. To be honest, I don't know how I feel about you. I'm perpetually afraid to be near you, but you're not that bad, really. So...I don't know how to answer that question right now. Is it alright if you give me time before I truly answer?"

Yami looked down again, an unreadable expression on her face. "Alright...But please don't forget."

Hiro shook his head. "I won't."

BREAKBREAKBREAK

The next day was...awkward, to put it simply. Yami didn't say a word to Hiro the entire day, and Hiro didn't protest when she followed him into the classroom. There was no tension between them, they simply acted as if each other didn't exist.

Several people asked Nemesis what was going on between them, since it was by now common knowledge that Yami now lived with them, but she couldn't answer. She had as little clue as they did.

"I'm Hiro-nii's cousin, not his twin. I can't tell you how he thinks." she said. "And Yami's as mysterious as ever."

When either of the two in question were asked, they just responded with a simple. "Nothing's wrong", only serving to confuse them more.

The weirdness censor over Sainan may be great, but even it is not capable of blocking out everything.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

During lunch, Hiro headed up to the roof as usual, Yami in tow. Nemesis was still in the classroom, having some work to finish before class resumed, so it was just the two of them.

He was surprised to find Yukihime sitting on the fencing, arms crossed, staring at him.

"Alright, Hiro-kun. Spill it. What's going on?" Yukihime said, in her typical domineering way.

As usual, Hiro barely gave her a second glance, heading to his normal spot and sitting down to eat. "Nothing's going on, Yukihime. Just leave me alone."

Yukihime growled. "I don't believe that! You were always so cold and distant since 7 years ago, never letting anyone see what you were feeling. And then Nemesis came along, and suddenly it was like you were back to the way you were before that incident. You talked with her as if she was your greatest friend, even though you've left me in the dust since that time. Whoever she is, she's not your cousin, you always said you were the only one in your family, and that just makes me all the more confused. I don't know who she is or why she's so important to you, but I know you and the way you think, and I can easily see that you've replaced me with her in your mind"

She inhaled deeply before continuing, not noticing that Hiro's hand had frozen halfway to bringing his food to his mouth.

She smiled sadly, looking down at her feet. "But I don't mind that you've found someone else to keep you happy. I'm glad to see you looking alive again, even if you've left me in the ashes of your past. And it looks like Nemesis was able to pull you out of your shell, at least a little. And now, you have more people around you, people you've learned to be friends with, even if they do fall under your xenophobia...And you've been so much more confident in everything you do, it's like the cold you has melted again…"

She sighed. "I know I'm probably making a lot of assumptions. After all, I may know you, but I can't get inside your head. Nobody truly knows what you're thinking except for you. I know that you still haven't completely come back, and I know that you still hate me, but…"

She looked up at him. "Is it alright if…" She shook her head, smiling sadly. "Never mind, I already know the answer to that question…" She looked back at him, and frowned when she saw his expression. "Hiro…?"

The bundle of rice held by his chopsticks fell back into his bento box, and he lowered his hand, staring directly at him, the fire in his silvery eyes as strong as it had ever been, making her cringe and look down, avoiding the intense gaze.

"Don't you ever mention _that_ ever again, Yukihime." he growled, the force of his tone causing Yami, who was sitting next to him, to scoot over a few inches, staring at him with a combination of shock and confusion at the anger that seemed to have descended on him from nowhere. "Don't you ever mention 7 years ago ever again. I don't want to remember that time. It was in the past, and who I am now has nothing to do with it."

He stood up suddenly, dropping his lunch and sending it spilling across the concrete. "And I don't want to hear anyone assume they know me, least of all you. We were friends once, but that died 7 years ago. I no longer want anything to do with you. You're just an annoyance to me now, the class president archetype who refuses to leave me alone. Our friendship died that day, and you know exactly why."

He turned around and began to walk, Yami still sitting, apparently afraid to intervene in his rage, which was even more intense than that which she'd seen in him when he glared at her in her fight with Nemesis.

He stopped and turned his head, a shadow seeming to have fallen over his face. "You died along with them." he said, before entering the door to the lower floors.


	24. Rogue Alien Tsubaki

**New readers probably aren't aware of this, as may be true of older users since Evil Eye has only been around for a year (exactly a year tomorrow!), but I do a mass update every year. This year, I will be revamping the chapter lengths by combining chapters that don't meet my standard, so be aware that chapter numbers past this point are flexible until I've completed revamps! Thank you for understanding, and fight on, Hiro!**

* * *

The lack of tension despite the odd silence between Hiro and Yami was more than made up for now, with the almost tangible air of hate surrounding the man. Something had happened during the lunch break, that much was obvious even to the densest of people, but nobody knew what, and right now, it seemed that going near Hiro was a death wish.

He hadn't been this hostile since before Nemesis had come, and even then, never had he been so blatantly angry. He had always been a loner and pushed people away, but he had never just plain hated anyone, barring the aliens, of course, so it was anyone's guess who had managed to spark his wrath. It didn't help that Nemesis had been away from him at the time and Yami had clammed up whenever anyone asked.

Yukihime didn't yell at him for anything as she usually did. In fact, she was unusually quiet, not even getting out of her seat, only occasionally glancing at him with an unreadable expression, though her eyes seemed sad.

Nobody paid her any attention, though, since nobody in their right minds would think she had anything to do with it, not with Hiro's complete inability to care about anything she said.

The aura of hatred surrounded Hiro for the rest of the day, only dying down when school finally ended, in which he was one of the first to leave the room, not even waiting for Nemesis before he started heading home.

"Hiro, wait up!" Nemesis said, running to catch up to him. "What's wrong with you today, you're not acting like yourself…"

"Something that Yukihime told him." Yami said, walking next to her, not wanting to get too close to Hiro, for fear that he may lash out.

"Yukihime?" Nemesis asked, confused, looking at Hiro. "What about her?"

Hiro grit his teeth. "Wait until we get home and I'll explain. I think you deserve to at least know something of our past."

"They were friends in childhood, from what I could understand." Yami said.

"Yeah, we were, but no longer. She's dead to me now."

Nemesis blinked, hesitating in her step for a second. She knew he didn't like her, based on the look that he usually had when she was around, but she never knew that he just flat-out hated her.

Well, she'd have to wait until they got home before he'd answer any of her questions.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

"Okay, so what's up?" Nemesis asked, almost as soon as they'd gotten into the door. "What's going on and how does it have to do with Yukihime?"

Hiro sat down heavily on the couch and sighed. "Nemesis...remember the room? The one I told you not to go into?" he asked.

Nemesis and Yami sat down on the couch next to him, watching him intently. It was rare for him to talk about his past, this was a golden opportunity for them.

"Yes?" Nemesis said. "What about it?"

"That room belongs to my parents, and I don't like going into it." he said.

Yami nodded. "I had noticed that your parents never are around, and you never mention them. I just assumed that they were overseas or something."

Hiro shook his head. "That would be the most cliche possible scenario." he joked, though it did little to lighten his obviously grave mood.

"Then where are they?" Nemesis asked, though she had a feeling she knew the answer, considering his expression.

"They died." Hiro said. "About-"

"Seven years ago…" Yami said, looking down in realization. Hiro nodded. "So that's what Yukihime was talking about…" she said.

Nemesis had a sickening feeling that she knew what he was talking about. "Were they-" she asked, and Hiro nodded.

"They were killed by an alien."

"An alien...So that's why you hate our kind so much…" Yami said, and both Trans looked down at their laps.

Hiro nodded. "I know it's an irrational hatred, as you and that one had nothing to do with each other, but since then I just am unable to trust aliens of any species."

"What was this one? Do you know anything about it?" Nemesis asked.

Hiro hesitated, before nodding. "I know a little about its species thanks to the Japanese government giving me information on it. It was a Ragnarian called Tsubaki. Ragnarians are apparently an immortal parasite race with no physical form, who take over the minds of victims that become permanent hosts. They apparently have a good relationship with most worlds who know about them, just taking corpses as hosts, but Tsubaki was a rogue and took the bodies of living beings."

"She came to Earth on a stolen spacecraft and had her host kill himself, then took another one. Eventually, she found her way to my home, and...You can guess the rest of the story."

The two were silent for several moments as they processed what he had said.

"So...how does Yukihime play into this? You said that she 'died when they did.' What did you mean?"

Hiro's face darkened, if it wasn't already dark enough. "It was her fault that they died. She told Tsubaki's host where I lived. Apparently she was after me for some reason, though I don't know it and I never want to."

"That doesn't sound like her fault though...I mean, she was, what, 7 then, how could she have known what Tsubaki wanted?"

Hiro grit his teeth. "Yukihime used to have a knack for knowing people on a single glance. She saw me when I was young, saw that I had no chance of making friends or learning how to properly survive in the world alone, and befriended me. She should have been able to see the darkness in Tsubaki's heart that day, even if she was better able to hide it than I. And for that, I can never forgive her. I ended our friendship that day, and since then we've both hated each other."

It seemed that Hiro had a lot of issues trusting people. At least he admitted that it was irrational, though he obviously couldn't break it.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

"Sir, we have a slight problem on our hands." the messenger from before said, standing at the feet of the short man he'd talked to before.

The man stared at him, a bored expression on his face. "What's the issue?" he asked. "Is it to do with the project?"

"It is. It seems that the boy has told Eve Lunatique and the failed Trans about the Tsubaki incident."

The man sat up straight, his black eyes seeming to expand in either surprise or anger, though his permanent frown made it hard to tell which it was. "That was not supposed to happen for another three months. What altered the course?"

"It seems that a girl he knew in his childhood sparked massive amounts of rage in him." the messenger said. "Yukihime Murano, who was also a backup for the project."

The man growled. "Oh, that whelp. We cut her out of the project a long time ago. Seems she's still interfering, isn't she?"

He grinned. "No matter, we will simply shift to the contingency plan for this scenario."

The messenger nodded. "And what do we do about Yukihime? Shall I give the order to terminate her?"

The man shook his head and waved his hand. "No no no, no need to do that. She may yet prove to be useful. She has a bond with our resident test subject, after all. Perhaps she will be able to redeem herself for her failure to meet our initial conditions."

The messenger nodded. "Do you have any other orders, sir?"

"Continue observing. The time to intervene has not come yet. The pieces are in place, but we will let Tsubaki make the first move."


	25. Let's Play Tsubaki's Game

It was surprisingly easy to convince Hiro to repeat what he'd told them to Mea and Momo, the Devilukean having decided that she would be Hiro's "romantic advisor" since she had announced her "Harem Plan MK II."

Momo had remained quiet for the entirety of Hiro's explanation, though she made an odd look like she sympathized with Yukihime. She probably was just sad that one of her OTPs failed, that's the way her mind worked.

Mea, however, had asked several questions, most similar to those Yami and Nemesis had asked, but in typical Mea fashion, also asked some new, harder-hitting ones.

"Why did you survive?" she asked, and Hiro's eye twitched, signalling his anger at the statement, though he made no other move other than clenching his fist.

"Because Tsubaki was stopped before she could get to me."

"What stopped her?" Mea pressed on. For someone with the power to read minds, she really was clueless when it came to how much her own speech affected people.

Another twitch. "I don't really remember well what happened. Everything after that was a blur to me. I think her host was shot and killed by police."

"So she's dead now?"

Hiro sighed, looking down at the ground, now speaking quietly, though his anger was evident in his voice. "I sincerely hope so. She deserves to be killed in the worst way possible for what she did."

"But aren't Ragnarians usually-" Mea was about to ask, before Momo put a hand on her mouth, stopping her from finishing the sentence.

Momo smiled awkwardly. "Probably best to shut up now, Mea-chan…" she said. "You don't want to get driven out of his harem like Yukihime did, don't you?"

Mea blinked, then nodded, and Momo slowly removed her hand. "Sorry, Hiro-kohai!" she said, in her typical excitable voice, as if she'd completely forgotten what Momo had just said.

"It's...alright, Mea-san." Hiro said. "You don't have much of a filter, that's just who you are. I get it."

"...That was probably the nicest thing I've ever heard you say, Hiro-kun." Momo said, with a tone of faux shock on her voice. "Usually you just glare at people."

As if to prove her point, he glared at her, though his recently dulled eyes did little to make her back up.

"I'm only dealing with you 'Harem Plan' because it's not really causing any harm to anyone. I can easily shut it down, so don't annoy me." he snapped. "And I think you already know this, but I don't put a single iota of trust in you. You're probably the most dangerous of all the aliens I know of, because all of your deviousness and clever schemes are hidden in layers and out of sight."

Momo simply smiled. "I know, I'm the little demon of the Devilukean Empire." she said, as if it were a compliment. The term definitely suited her perfectly, though.

Hiro stared at her for several seconds, before sighing and putting his hand on his forehead, closing his eyes. "...Thanks for listening. It takes a weight off my chest to be able to tell someone about it." he said, in a rare emotional outburst.

Momo smiled at him. "No problem, that's what we're here for. Isn't that right, Mea?"

Mea nodded, grinning. "And if Tsubaki is still alive, I'll make sure to help you get revenge!" she stated. "Then you'll trust me, right?"

Hiro chuckled. "If you were to help me kill Tsubaki, I'd propose on the spot." he said.

Mea grinned again. "Don't say something like that, I might just take you up on that offer." she said. "And then where will your harem be?"

Hiro rolled his eyes. "Still don't know what this harem you guys keep talking about is, I can think of maybe two people other than you, and one of those I wouldn't let near me anymore."

Mea nodded. "I think you're in the right there, and that's not just me liking you that's talking. Yukihime had no right to mention that when she knew what it would do to you."

Hiro gritted his teeth. "I'd thought I'd finally let it go until she did that." he said. "But when she said that...I just snapped."

BREAKBREAKBREAK

"Okay, we really need to think of a better solution to this." Hiro said, glancing at Yami ,who was in her usual spot on the floor. "We can't have you in here all the time, you already are around me way too much."

"..." he looked to his left. "And why are you here too, Mea?!" he half-yelled at the magenta-haired Trans, who simply grinned at him.

"I wanted to spend some more time with you and like Yami-nee I am also not technically a student here, so I figured that I could join you instead!"

"You didn't consult me for this!" Hiro exclaimed. "It's bad enough with her around all the time, now you're following me around too?"

"Nakamura-san, if she is a bother, I can force her out." Yami said.

Mea stuck her tongue out at the girl. "I want to be here too, and you have no more right than I do to be here!"

Hiro sighed in despair and planted his face on his table. "Please just finish the job you started, Yami...My neck is fair game still…" he said to himself. "I don't know how much more of this I can handle…"

The actions of the two Trans really had gotten out of hand recently. Ever since Hiro had told them about his past, they'd both stuck to him like glue, though whether it was because they were worried about him or due to some other unknowable motive was anyone's guess. The two "sisters" rarely were like-minded, but it seemed that when it came to him, they matched each other perfectly.

He hated the attention. He missed the lonesome life he'd lead before he met Nemesis, a life of solitude where no man nor woman interfered with his thoughts. It was a world where he was king, and all those who gazed upon him were his subjects, only a stare away from being pounded back down into submission to his will.

Now he was weak, the power of his eyes stripped away by the memories and experiences these girls churned up. They were Trans, and had a whole arsenal of weaponry at their disposal, but neither their hair nor their power was what had changed him so drastically.

At the risk of sounding like a cheesy cliche, it was their heart. All of them were just too happy all the time, and always tried to make him join them in their optimism. He just couldn't fathom how anyone could be happy when such a world as this existed. He couldn't see how they could smile when so much death and despair was generated, hatred and depression that he felt every day. It was a part of him, so ingrained into his being that no amount of their prying could dig out.

He lived for the hatred, the burning feeling of rage that he felt every time he looked at one of them. He loved it, for it made him feel alive. He loved them for letting him continue to hate them. He loved Yukihime for reminding him of why he existed.

Tsubaki. He hadn't told them, but he knew she was alive. He knew she had survived, the wretched creature that had robbed his parents of the lives they rightfully had.

Tsubaki was what he lived for. He wanted his revenge, he wanted to be the one holding the blade that let him feel her heartbeat, that let him feel as her heart shredded itself on his weapon. He didn't know how he would do it, but he knew that he would.

He was but one of Tsubaki's victims, but he knew that he would be the one to end her reign. She was alive, he could feel it in his gut, and so he would work to remedy that.

He glanced at the two girls now fighting over who had the most right to be around him, doing his best to mask the sadistic grin he felt coming up.

He hated them, but he would put up with them. They could help him. He knew that he couldn't do it alone, even with the odd strength he still had yet to learn to control.

He had a feeling there were others after Tsubaki now, beings far more powerful than him. He would not let them fight alone.

It was time for him to throw in his game piece and begin playing. He'd waited for 7 years, and he had run out of patience.

The game had already begun, he just had to join it. Tsubaki had started it seven years before, and in doing so, she had marked her defeat.

She had been playing the cards, but now, he was the dealer. Time to do a little cheating, in the form of the Trans.

He grinned internally, the silver in his eyes brightening as if he had reversed time on himself.

"I won't lose." he said quietly, too quietly for the girls, who were now yelling, to hear him. "You've been on top for too long, Tsubaki. Now it's my turn. Let's play a game, shall we?"


	26. Nemesis Discovers Murphy's Law

"Sir, we have another issue." the messenger said.

The man shrugged, clearly not all that invested in the conversation this time. He'd gotten so many reports about the experiment and Tsubaki's movements now that it was almost old news.

"Hiro has begun actively plotting against Tsubaki."

The man blinked, rolling his eyes to face the messenger. "How does he know that she is alive?" he asked in his deep voice, clearly not all that worried about the issue.

"We're still unclear on that. It could simply be that he can still sense her presence. He did run into her current host several weeks ago, perhaps the failed Trans' genes tagged her without him realizing it. It seems that it has been becoming increasingly difficult for him to control his rapidly growing power."

The man nodded. "As expected. Hiro is strong in will, but he is only human. There is little chance that he will be able to control Nemesis's genes for quite a while."

He grinned, showing off his pointed teeth. "I am growing weary of waiting. The experiment has gone on for so long now, and I think it's about time to...guide things along, don't you think?" he asked.

The messenger hesitated, before nodding. "What shall we do?" he asked. The man grinned again.

"Nemesis has been in hiding for too long. Arrange for her to have a little...slip up. Let's see how Hiro reacts to discovering the true power of his little 'cousin'." he said, his grin broadening. "And how Sainan is affected knowing what truly caused the Darkness incident…"

BREAKBREAKBREAK

Naturally, Hiro didn't tell anyone about his newly-confirmed plan. After all, he still didn't actually know for certain that Tsubaki was even alive, though every instinct told him she was. There would be no reason to tell them about the plan if the object of said plan didn't even exist anymore.

Another issue was the legality of his plan. Tsubaki would be inhabiting a new host body now, and from what he knew of the Ragnarians, their host bodies could survive intact if the parasite chose to allow them to, meaning that it was possible that in order to kill her he would have to kill an innocent person in the process. He didn't honestly care about the ethical implications of such a thing, as to him, whoever she took as a host was already just a shell and not a real person, but it wouldn't do if the government decided that he had murdered a civilian despite the being living within.

He heard something crack, and was dragged out of his thoughts, his head drawn to his hand.

He had been gripping his pencil so hard that it had snapped in his hand. The sudden pain of the splintered wood jutting into the meat of his palm forced him back into his senses.

 _What the heck am I thinking?_ he thought to himself. _I don't want to murder people! Sure I hate her for what she did, but she probably isn't even alive! Why am I suddenly so obsessed with killing?_

He unclenched his writing hand, the broken pieces of the pencil falling away. His eyes widened as he stared at the hand.

He was trembling. His hand was visibly shaking, despite no command from his brain for it to move.

He stared, involuntary panic welling up inside his chest.

 _Something is seriously wrong with me. None of this should be happening. I'm not an evil person, I would never think of killing someone, and this shaking is definitely not normal. Something is very wrong…_

He looked around the room, and it was as if his brain has just suddenly decided not to work as it should. His vision went blurry, going in and out of focus, and as he turned it was as if the world lagged behind.

He could hear Yami and Mea, still arguing to either side of him, though their voices were dulled and distorted, sounding as if they were being spoken from far away through some sort of filter.

He blinked, and found himself oriented sideways, staring at someone's legs, though he could barely register anything over the sudden splitting headache that he felt, radiating from one side of his body.

He felt someone lift him up from one side, and saw someone's face come into the tunnel view he had. Yukihime, maybe? He couldn't tell, and now there were too many faces to distinguish any of them. Eventually, his brain simply decided that there was no point anymore trying to fight the blurriness, and his vision went completely black, replaced only by the dull aching in his head.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

Hiro's eyes cracked open, and his vision swam, still going in and out of focus as he attempted to fully open his eyes.

" _Don't_." said a voice, oddly monotone, but with some strange property that made Hiro decide that it was female. He thought he recognized it, but couldn't remember from where. " _Just stay still. You're too weak to move on your own right now_."

 _Yeah, right. I feel fine now._ Hiro thought, opening his eyes again. This time the resistance was gone, but what he saw made him flinch.

Everything was so...clear. He didn't have bad eyes by any means, but now it was as if he could see _everything_. The cracks in the paint on the ceiling, the individual fabrics of the curtain around the bed he was laying in, even the vibrations in the air as a breeze flowed through.

He recognized the curtain as that which surrounded the beds in the infirmary. Makes sense, if he remembered correctly, he'd passed out before class started.

But if that was true, what was this voice in his head? He could have thought it was his imagination, but that voice sounded so...familiar…

A face appeared in his vision, and he jumped in his place.

He could tell it was Mikado-sense from the magenta hair and the revealing shirt, but she looked 50 years old. With this odd clarity, he could see every dimple and every wrinkle on her skin. It was a shock, to say the least.

"Umm...Mikado-sensei…" he said.

The alien simply smiled and shook her head. "I know I probably look weird to you. Everything will be explained to you, don't worry. Try sitting up."

He obeyed, cringing as it felt like every one of his vertebrae simultaneously shifted an inch in his body. He turned to face her, noticing that Yami, Mea, Yukihime, Momo, and the Yuuki kid were all there, sitting where he couldn't see them when he was simply lying down. He noticed that Nemesis was missing, but he decided not to bother worrying about it. She probably just didn't care, he had a feeling she was just faking her interest in him.

"What...What happened? Feels like my head's on fire…" Hiro said, holding a hand to the side of his head. "And what is wrong with my eyes? Everything's...All the colors are too bright, and you all look a lot older…"

Momo laughed. "It's just you, we're all as old as we were earlier today."

"You have been asleep for only two hours." Yami said, as if it was perfectly normal for him to have passed out. Then again, with Yami, nobody knew what she was thinking, so maybe she DID expect it.

" _You passed out because your body was unable to cope with my genetic alterations_." the voice from earlier said, and Hiro suddenly became aware that the voice seemed to be coming from his mouth.

His eyes widened. "Who are you? What are you doing to me?" he asked, panic rising in his voice.

 _"Calm down, Hiro._ " the voice said. " _You have nothing to fear, it's me, Nemesis. I'm currently keeping your body from ripping itself to shreds, so please calm down. I can't Trans-Fuse properly if your mind is dissociating._ "

Hiro froze. "N-Nemesis?!" he asked. "How are you inside my head?!"

A sigh from the person he now had identified. _"It's hard for me to put it into words. Let Mikado-sensei and Yami and Mea tell you. You deserve to know. Just know that I didn't intend to hide it from you, I just didn't know how to bring it up._ "

Hiro blinked, his mind racing, subconsciously thinking of hundreds of different explanations, each more horrifying than the last.

"Nakamura-san." He snapped to attention at the sound of Mikado-sensei's voice. "We'll explain everything, so please, just calm yourself and listen. This affects all of us, not just you."

When Hiro stopped freaking out and looked at her, she sighed, inhaling deeply before continuing. "When I told you to take care of Nemesis, she was already perfectly fine. It was for a different reason that I decided to let her live with you."

Hiro blinked. "And what was that reason?" he asked, acutely aware of Nemesis's presence in his mind now that he knew she was there.

Mikado-sensei sighed. "To explain that, we're going to have to explain to you exactly what happened before and during the Darkness incident…"


	27. Hiro Does Some Soul-Searching

Hiro blinked, nodding hesitantly, though by now he'd decided not to question anything quite yet. He had to be patient, even though his mind was all over the place with his worries about the implications of what was enabling Nemesis to do..whatever she was doing to his body. He thought it might be some sort of alien technology, though that didn't explain where she was.

"How much do you already know about the Darkness incident?" Yuuki asked. Hiro mentally chuckled, seeing him speak in such a mature way. He remembered the years before, back when he and Yuuki were in junior high together, though even then he only knew the guy by name, as he was two grades ahead of him. Yuuki had always been bashful, terrified of anyone identifying as female and just all-around an awkward idiot. Now, it seemed that living and being surrounded by so many aliens had forced him to grow up, and he was a somewhat respectable person now. At least, now he was someone whose first name Hiro was willing to remember, and there were few humans that got that treatment from him.

He thought about how he used to be. What Yukihime had told him, before he'd decided to cut her out of his mind. She no longer deserved for him to remember her first name, though it was too deeply ingrained into his memory for him to forget it completely. Stupid Murano-chan.

He shook his head. Where had that come from? He hadn't referred to her as Murano-chan, even in his own thoughts, in over 7 years.

" _Hiro_." Nemesis's voice said, bringing him back to reality. " _Can you answer Rito's question now?"_

Hiro blinked, shaking his head to clear his thoughts. "Right, right, sorry. I was just...I got distracted thinking about the past. What was the question again?"

"What do you know of the Darkness incident?" Yuuki repeated, seemingly not bothered by his lack of an answer the first time.

Hiro nodded. "I just know that it was caused by Yami going berserk, and it had something to do with her being obsessed with you, Yuuki-san. From what I've guessed, I think-" He glanced at Yukihime. "Umm, should I-?"

Mikado-sensei nodded. "We've already told her everything about Nemesis." she said. "There was no other way to get her to leave us alone."

"And now that I know who she is, I'm definitely not letting you fall away from me again." Yukihime stated. "Even if you hate me now, I'm one of you whether you like it or not."

Hiro sighed. "I would erase any memory of you from my head if I could, Yukihime-me." he spat, before blinking, eyes widening, and he looked down, placing his hands to the sides of his head. "What is wrong with me? Have I always been this...crude to people?"

"If we can get to the point, we can explain it all, Nakamura-san." Yami stated. "You are not yourself, and right now, you are only partially in control of your own body. You are suffering from a form of epigenetic evolution, which is damaging your physical and mental state."

"Onee-chan, that is not how you calm someone down!" Mea exclaimed. "Hiro-kohai, you'll be fine, just let us tell you what's going on."

"None of you are helping." Hiro said, still with a bitter tone, though he was clearly trying to suppress it, a panicked expression starting to form on his face. "So how does Yami have to do with what's happening to me? I wasn't there that day, Darkness couldn't have done anything to me…"

Mikado-sensei shook her head. "It wasn't Yami that caused this, it was Nemesis. As you probably already knew, Nemesis was the catalyst that sparked Darkness's transformation. She did it through Mea, with a process officially called 'Trans-Fusion'."

"I've...heard that term before." Hiro said, staring at her.

"It's my unique Trans ability." Nemesis said, making Hiro jump. This time, it was from her normal voice, and when he turned to his right, there she was, sitting on the bed he was on as if she'd been there the entire time.

When Hiro just stared at her with a confused expression, Yami stepped in.

"Each of us Trans have a unique ability. Mea's is Psycho Dive, mine is obviously the Darkness Program. Nemesis's is Trans-Fusion."

"Remember how I told you that I can control my hormones and alter my physiology?" she asked. Hiro nodded. "I'm...actually the only Trans that can do that. They can synthesize weapons, I can synthesize a new form. And Trans-Fusion is a higher form of that."

"Neme-chan used it to take over my body to use as a vessel during the Darkness incident." Mea stated. "So she could manipulate events properly. It was scary then, but looking back, it's pretty funny, isn't it, Yami-nee?"

Hiro froze after Mea spoke. "Possession…" he said quietly. Mea and Nemesis nodded vigorously, but Yukihime reacted differently, clearly noticing something in his tone that they didn't.

He wasn't just talking with a tone of realization. There was an undertone of pure anger,the source of which Yukihime could figure out after only a second of thinking.

"So you're saying your...Trans-Fusion...works by possessing a living body." he said, looking at Nemesis, his silver eyes pulsating dangerously bright, as strongly as they had when he'd rejected Yukihime on the roof.

Nemesis nodded, grinning sheepishly. "Sorry I didn't tell you it's kind of a hard topic to bring up, right? Especially after living with you for so long, I just couldn't think of how to explain it."

"That's the same ability that-" Hiro started, still speaking quietly, but he was interrupted by Nemesis continuing, blissfully unaware of the rage building within him, an emotion that had started becoming obvious to everyone else, even the notoriously dense Yami.

"I first Trans-Fused with you back when Yami attacked and you got hurt, so I could repair you from the inside. You can imagine my surprise when I found that you were perfectly compatible with me! But apparently we're so compatible you actually changed in your gene sequencing to copy my own genetics, and that's why your strength went crazy all of a sudden back then!"

"Nemesis, maybe you should stop talking…" Mea said, concern obvious in her voice. "Hiro's-"

"It apparently delayed your physical response to the changing until now, so I guess you only recently started really being affected by it, and when you passed out I had to Trans-Fuse with you a second time to keep you alive, but now I think I've fixed you back to normal, so yeah, you should be fine now!" she said, finally finishing her one-sided rant. She smiled at him, but her smiled quickly turned into a frown when she saw the look on his face.

"Umm...Hiro?" she asked, her voice dropping to a more reasonable pitch.

Hiro's face had darkened, significantly showing off the almost burning-hot silver in his eyes. "Trans-Fusion...Possession...That sounds exactly like Tsubaki." he said, his voice low but powerful, venom lacing every word.

Nemesis's face changed to one of obvious fear, involuntarily appearing as she sensed the pure anger in his voice. She knew she'd made a mistake, even without him confirming it.

"Oh no." Mikado-sensei said, backing up and effectively summing up the situation in those two words.

Hiro trained his eyes on Nemesis, glaring at her with all the ferocity he could muster, visibly causing her to tremble under the force of his stare. "It takes quite a lot to make me lose my patience, but you've just gone above and beyond my breaking point. You aren't any different from Tsubaki, are you? You take whatever body you want to suit your desires, and then act as if nothing had ever happened."

Yuuki stood up. "Hiro-san, you have to calm down…" he said, stepping closer to them. "Just focus and let us explain-"

"You don't know what happened." Hiro said, training his eyes on the elder student. "My family was wiped out by Tsubaki, a member of a species who do exactly what Nemesis does. I was there, and I was the only one to survive. That memory is burned into my brain, no matter how hard I try to forget."

Yukihime reached out to grab Yuuki's arm, pulling him back to his seat. "Trust me, you don't want to get involved. I tried to and it ended with him deciding that I don't exist anymore."

Yuuki looked at her, then glanced at Hiro. "Hiro-san, don't do anything stupi-"

No sooner had he said that than Hiro's rage surpassed the boiling point. In a split second, he had twisted his body around to Nemesis's direction, his arm forced forward in a powerful left hook, and Nemesis was sent flying in the other direction, knocking over a portable desk and smashing into the wall with a loud thud, sliding down the surface of the cinder block pattern, a dark bruise forming on her face where Hiro's fist had connected. Judging from the crack her skull had made when it hit the wall, she probably had some internal damage as well.

All in all, it sent everyone into a panic, while hiro simply glared at her, lowering his arm and rubbing his right hand over his knuckles. He stood up, ignoring everyone either screaming or yelling. "I put all of the power you forced into me in that punch. I'm sure you're fine though, you can just take over another body and heal, right?" he said, before walking out, leaving the group behind, lifting a certain finger that made his intentions clear.

Clearly, he wasn't coming back this time. This was far worse than his reaction to Yukihime's confession.


	28. Pride and Prejudice

Nemesis may have always been somewhat of a mischievous prankster at heart, often ignoring other peoples' feelings in favor of more effectively following her own goals.

But let it not be said that she was an idiot. She was highly intelligent, and often prided herself for being the most knowledgeable of the three Trans, though when compared to the Devilukean supergeniuses like Momo or Lala it was very little.

Being both intelligent and a trickster at heart, she knew her boundaries very well, the line at which a deviation crosses from harmless to destructive. She never overstepped her limit, for while she may enjoy messing with people, she was terrified of the feeling of being truly hated.

And she knew that her worst fears had happened. Hiro, the person who'd saved her life and taken her in, and who despite her being, in his words, "an untrustworthy alien" she thought may have actually held a soft spot for her, now genuinely wanted nothing to do with her any longer.

She knew it even before the punch had come, an attack which she saw coming from a mile away but was paralyzed, powerless to avoid. She knew it as soon as she saw the burning rage in his eyes, the eyes she'd once said were like hers.

They were still like hers, now that she thought about it, but they were not like the eyes she held now. No, they were her eyes when she'd learned that she was just a failed experiment, tossed away like garbage and left to fend for herself.

She remembered her anger well, remembered when she decided that her creators would pay for taking away the very meaning of her existence. That was why she'd come to Earth in the first place.

Hiro had stripped away all of that rage with just a single second of eye contact. That split moment was all Nemesis needed to realize the error of her ways. The oddball student seemed to have that effect on people.

She'd tried to express her gratitude then, but had been too weak to formulate any comprehensible phrasing at the time, so she could only say "You have...my eyes."

It seemed a fitting response, but he didn't seem to make the connection. After that she'd kind of just given up trying to thank him, though since then she'd never let her gratitude waver.

It wasn't every day that someone could come along and change someone so completely in just a single meeting. Maybe Momo's "Harem Plan MK II" actually had some weight behind it, Hiro obviously had changed many people already, if Yukihime and Yami were examples.

Now, however, it was Hiro who had changed. At the instant his hand had come in contact with the side of her face, she had felt his thoughts transfer to her as if they had Trans-Fused.

There had been nothing in his actions other than hatred. Hiro wasn't just overreacting, he really and truly _hated_ her.

She'd thought her worst fear was being truly hated. Turns out she forgot to tack on a "by her closest friend" to the end of that.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

Nemesis had a strong feeling she knew where Hiro would be, but instead of going back to the house, she decided to stay away for a while. He wouldn't want to see her face any time soon, she was certain of that.

She'd have to think of a way to convince him that she hadn't intentionally hurt him, though she knew the psychological wounds of her mistake were likely cut all the way into his core, because now he saw her as one and the same being as Tsubaki.

She still knew very little about the rogue Ragnarian, but she didn't want to be on the same boat as her. She was on Hiro's side on that particular issue, what the being had done was wrong on so many levels.

That made her realize something she'd seen in Hiro's recent memory, from just before he'd passed out.

He believed that Tsubaki was still alive. Not just some random thought driven by her genome corrupting him, but an honest to goodness, unwavering belief. And she'd learned that, if Hiro truly believed something, that thing was most likely true.

And what better way could she win back his trust than to take down his greatest enemy?

Surely that would be sufficient, and if it wasn't, then she'd just have to find some other way to win his favor.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

"How did it go?" the man asked, looking at the messenger with his usual bored expression.

"It went better than expected." the messenger said. "Nakamura Hiro has begun physically changing as a result of our interference. He is now becoming more acclimatized to the failed Trans's genetics."

"And how did he react to Mikado-sama's explanation?" the man asked. "Was it as expected?"

"...Yes and no." the messenger said. "It resulted in Hiro punching the failed Trans into a wall."

That sent the man into a fit of laughter, loud and roaring. "That's excellent, better than expected! I was hoping he'd be able to give me a little more entertainment before things get serious. And what of Nemesis? How is she taking it?"

"...She's branched off from Hiro's side and is starting her own plan against Tsubaki. It seems that she believes that is the only way to regain Hiro's trust in her."

The laughter didn't recede in the slightest. "What was it that Hiro calls his plan again?" he asked happily.

"Tsubaki's Game, sir."

"Tsubaki's Game! Tsubaki's game indeed! A five-sided game of chess, her against us! This is a perfect field to test out the experiment! This is ideal for seeing the true might behind that brain of that kid's!"

"Sir, if I may, this isn't the point of the project. We're supposed to be testing-"

"Worry not about that, I am absolutely confident that Hiro and Nemesis will repair their relationship. After all, Hiro's life is on the line should he refuse her help. Trust me, this is the beginning of a wonderful era, lead by that child!"

BREAKBREAKBREAK

"Hiro-san, are you here?" Yuuki asked, entering the house, which Yami had lead the group to. "Are you alright?"

"I think you can guess the answer to that question pretty easily." Hiro replied, walking out from his room, glaring at the group, though his eyes had by now lost the lethal shine they'd had earlier. "I just found out that the alien who's been living with me for almost two months now has the same ability as the alien that killed my family. Sure, I'm JUST FINE!"

"Nakamura-san, Nemesis vanished after you left." Yami said, in her usual flat voice, though she was clearly trying to have a tone of concern, though it was difficult for her, considering her usual emotionless state.

"Good riddance, if she wanted to be trusted she should have told me about that ability as soon as she woke up in the infirmary. I said then that her name fit my views, and now that's doubly true."

 _Literally a Hero and Nemesis situation_. he thought to himself. _How ironic. It's like someone gave me my name on purpose._

He grit his teeth. "And don't start telling me it was for my own good or that she just didn't know how to bring it up or any of that crap. I'm not some cliche anime protagonist who forgives someone just because they said 'sorry'. I'm not some hero who saves the girl from the blackness she created. I see her as what I should have seen her as when I first saw her. The menace that you saw trying to destroy the world. I had started to trust her, but after this, I realize that she's exactly as I expected originally. No alien can be trusted, no matter how they may seem on the outside, because on the inside they're all the same."

The group were all frozen in shock at his words, staring wide-eyed at him. The aliens especially were affected, clearly reacting as if he'd insulted them personally, which he kind of had.

"Hiro…"

"I don't want to hear anything out of you." he snapped, staring at Yukihime. "You know exactly what I'm talking about, after all, it was your fault Tsubaki found my family, wasn't it, Murano-chan?"

That shut her up, and she now was on the verge of tears.

"Hiro, this isn't like you-"

"Of course it isn't like me! I'm not a bad person, I would never yell at you!" he suddenly shouted, growling and holding the sides of his head with his hands. "It's this stupid genetic alteration thing Nemesis caused! It's tearing me apart, I can feel it!"

"Nemesis's Trans inside him is still changing him…" Mikado-sensei said. "He's right, he's hardly the Hiro we all know right now."

"Do you honestly think I like being like this?!" Hiro said, visibly trying to force himself to calm down. "It isn't me saying any of this, it's that Trans's stupid genes inside me that are making me act this way! You all know how I normally act, I try my hardest to speak quietly and calmly, but right now I can barely stop myself from shouting, much less thinking all these horrible thoughts about all of you!"

"Nakamura-san, are you certain this isn't just you saying what you're usually thinking?" Yami asked, clearly concerned. Probably not the best wording, but he looked at her anyway.

"Of course not! I hate aliens, I hate everything to do with them, but I don't see them as evil or anything unless they give me explicit reason to! And I have no reason to hate Yuuki-san, he's never given me any negative impression!"

"Hiro-kohai, you need to try to fight it! Neme-chan's Trans-Fusion can be fought against if your will is strong enough, that's how we defeated her during the Darkness incident!"

"I am trying, Mea!" he said, gritting his teeth, leaning over on his couch with his eyes tightly closed. "But I'm only human, I don't have the strength that you do!"

Mikado-sensei shook her head. "We're never going to get anywhere without Nemesis." she said.

Hiro glared at her. "I am not asking her for help."

"Nakamura-san, you are going to need her help if you ever want to control this. This happened because of her ability, so naturally, she is the only one who can provide insight on what exactly is going on. It could be worse than we can guess and only she would know." she said.

Hiro's glare softened, though it stayed bright, fuelled by the unwanted anger inside him. The doctor's explanation was completely logical, he knew, and he also knew that he was overreacting to the whole situation.

He sighed. "Fine, I'm in my right mind enough to understand I'm being way too melodramatic about this. Just...find her, and everybody please get out so I can calm down."

Everyone nodded and left the house, though Momo held back to glance at him with a worried expression.

 _Probably just worried about her Harem Plan MK II, knowing her._ he thought.

When they had all left and the door had closed, he sighed and flopped sideways onto the couch, staring up at his hand. "What is wrong with me?" he said quietly.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

 _If I hear one more person ask me if I want a candy, I'm stabbing somebody...Though no sense rejecting it._ The girl thought to herself, sighing as she lay spread-eagle on her bed, staring at the ceiling with a lollipop stuck from her mouth. "Nakamura Hiro, huh? Didn't realize he was still alive…"

She grinned, a malicious smile that didn't fit her very young face. "Looks like it's time for me to get involved, then...We can't have Mr. Pointy-Teeth's little project succeed, can we?"

"Camellia, are you alright?" called a woman from the hall. "How is your fever?"

The girl sighed, rolling her eyes. "I'm alright, Mommy! I think I can go to school tomorrow!" she called back, her voice shifted to one more suiting of her tiny form.

"Alright, get some rest!"

"I will!" _Moron_. she thought. _She doesn't suspect me in the slightest._

She sighed, looking out the window next to her bed. "I'm going to be so happy when I can finally shed this stupid disguise" she said quietly. "...What was it that messenger said Hiro's 'plan' was again? 'Tsubaki's Game'?"

She chuckled to herself, which quickly turned to a full-on laugh. "I'm surprised he still remembers that name, after so many attempts to remove it from him over the years! Even now, he's still fixated on Tsubaki!"

She grinned. "Maybe I ought to join in on the fun, can't have him chasing after a ghost, can we?"

"Camellia, dinnertime!" the woman said again, and she snapped to attention.

"What are we eating?" she asked in her child voice.

"Curry rice!" the woman said, and she grinned.

 _Plotting can wait. Curry rice gets top priority_. she thought, getting up from her bed to head out of her room.


	29. Confusing Italics Are Confusing

Finding Nemesis proved to be a more difficult task than the group had anticipated. She was in none of the places she normally was.

They'd checked the school, and the infirmary. Nothing. They'd searched the old school building. No trace of the petite alien. Mea had even suggested that she had possibly gone downtown, but that was quickly shot down when Yami pointed out that she was likely not feeling up to being in public after what had happened.

"Nemesis! Where did you go?" Yuuki called, holding his hands around his mouth to amplify his voice.

"Nemesis, Hiro wants you to come back!" Mea shouted. Yami and Mea had gone off on their own to search, using their Trans abilities to their fullest in the search for the third member of their kind.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

Nemesis could hear their shouting from a mile away, not that she was that far away. She was actually just out of their visual range, following them as they searched.

I can't go back. Not yet. I haven't found Tsubaki. I can't return to Hiro until I've destroyed her. she thought to herself.

"There you are!" someone shouted, and she nearly jumped out of her skin, twisting around to face the offender.

...I should have expected that, I jinxed myself. she thought, grinning sheepishly. "Hey, Mea…" she said.

Mea grinned, waving over her head. "I found her!" she shouted, alerting the others, though Yami was out of vocal range and probably would be searching for a long time before she realized they'd found her.

"Nemesis!" Mikado-sensei said. "Hiro's starting to react again, he needs you to control it again.

"He said he's alright with you Trans-Fusing with him since he knows he can't fight it alone." Yuuki said. "And you know how he is with stuff like that, you'd better get back before he changes his mind."

Nemesis looked down, frowning. "That's exactly why I'm trying to find Tsubaki." she said, resulting in a collective gasp from the group. "If I can find her and either kill her or bring her to Hiro, he'll trust me again, regardless of my Trans-Fusion."

"Hiro wants to kill Tsubaki himself, you should know that." Momo stated. "You won't help anyone by searching for her on your own, and if what he's said about her is true, you won't be able to do any damage to her, since you can't Trans-Fuse with her and without your ability you're weaker than a normal Trans."

"...Good point…" Nemesis said. "But you saw him, I won't be able to Trans-Fuse with him in such a wild state. I can't Trans-Fuse properly with someone whose mind is so...wild."

"He'll try his hardest to stay calm for you, Neme-chan." Mea said. "You didn't hear, but he said that he himself doesn't know his reason for hating aliens so much. He doesn't really hate you as a person, and I'm sure he really does trust you somewhere inside of him. Give it another chance, he's willing to."

Nemesis hesitated, then nodded. "I suppose I should...And it might be dangerous NOT to help him at this point, at least by teaching him how to control my genome."

The group started walking back, now reunited with the tanned being.

"What are the risks of such training?" Mikado-sensei asked as they walked. "Surely having a human learn the secrets of your ability could be dangerous?"

Nemesis shrugged. "It's not like I have ever done it before, he's the first perfect vessel I've ever found." she said. "But we have to try, right? It's way more dangerous not to do anything than to attempt something unheard of in this situation."

"I don't know, this feels an awful lot like something Lala would come up with…" Yuuki said worriedly. "And we all know how her inventions turn out usually."

That sent a laugh rippling through the group as they all remembered the various utter failures the eldest of the Devilukean Sisters had made. Those were definitely something that were only funny when they were looked back upon after the fact, though.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

"Hiro-san, we found Nemesis." Yuuki said, walking into the house.

Hiro was still on the couch, staring at his hand. He looked over at the group, sitting up. "Thanks. I...think I'm sort of under control." he said, though the brightness in his eyes suggested that he probably was lying.

Yuuki nodded, turning around to the back of the group. "Okay, Nemesis, come on. He'll let you Trans-Fuse."

Nemesis nodded, walking to the front, looking directly at Hiro with a small smile, though she was clearly uncomfortable from the way she was shifting in her spot. Understandable, she probably still freshly remembered the punch earlier.

Hiro smiled, though his hand clenched into a fist. "Sorry, I can't...I'm trying not to get angry again…"

Nemesis laughed, stepping up to him. "You can go ahead and freak out if you want, I can Trans-Fuse quicker than you can blink." she said. "Ready?"

Hiro's eyes brightened, and he clearly had lost control, as his voice dropped to a low growl. "You didn't bother asking the last few times." he said, standing up, clearly about to throw another punch.

True to her word, Nemesis was already gone, and he froze in place, staring forward, mouth open in shock.

"You really do work fast, don't you?" he asked, a grin playing on his face.

"I told you, didn't I?" Nemesis asked, using his voicebox to speak once again.

"True. Umm...How often is this going to have to happen, Mikado-sensei?" he asked, looking to the doctor's direction, blinking a couple times to get used to the sudden clarity in his vision that came with Nemesis's Trans-Fusion.

"If you get any worse you might need to almost always be Trans-Fused." Mikado-sensei said.

The group filtered into the house, taking up every available seat, and Yami and Mea simply sat on the floor. Mikado-sensei cleared her throat, eyeing the boy. "Nemesis, is there any way to do this without you needing to Trans-Fuse? There's a risk that you may be causing more damage doing this than otherwise."

Hiro's head nodded without his command, probably due to Nemesis controlling it. Odd, I should be freaking out about this, but I'm actually pretty chill with it… he thought.

He thought he heard Nemesis's voice chuckle somewhere in his mind. Maybe I'm better than you thought at controlling your emotion. she sounded back, making him tilt his head in curiosity.

You can talk directly into my mind? he thought back.

Yes, I don't NEED to speak through your mouth. This is honestly easier on me, but I won't go into the nuances of my physiology, you don't need to know all that.

Still would be helpful, and if you can read all of my thoughts, I should deserve to know about you, right?

Another chuckle. Let me answer Mikado-sensei's question. she thought back.

He looked to Mikado-sensei. "I've never tried it before, but perhaps Hiro can learn to control the abilities he's already gotten from me." Nemesis said. "It's probably difficult, but from what I can read in his head, it shouldn't be impossible."

"Are you sure? I can't read anything from you, but I can tell you take a lot of mental power controlling your own body, so why should I be able to? I'm only human." Hiro said.

"I require a lot of mental capacity to keep my physical form because I'm a being composed of an immaterial substance known as dark matter. You are a fully organic being, you have different issues with the genome sequence. That's probably why you're reacting so strongly to it."

This had better not interfere with my plan to kill Tsubaki. he thought, and his face went into a smile, though who was controlling it was anybody's guess.

If this succeeds, you'll be far more capable of killing her than you were before, Hiro. And don't worry, I'm planning on killing her too. Let's work together, okay?

The smile became a full-blown grin. Maybe this won't be as bad as I originally thought.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

"Have your men had any luck finding Tsubaki's current host?" the man asked.

"Unfortunately, sir, we have not. We searched the whole of Sainan, but she is either very well hidden or outside the city boundaries. That...may be more likely, sir…"

"No, she is certainly in Sainan. She wouldn't stray far from her prey, knowing her. She's probably right under our noses and we haven't noticed something blatantly obvious."

He shook his head. "Anyway, report on Hiro and Nemesis." he said, moving on.

The messenger nodded. "You were right, they reconciled rapidly. It seems that Project-"

"Ssh, don't say the name. Its name is a secret for a reason, you know." the man interrupted, waving a hand to cut the man off.

"R-Right, sorry sir, please excuse my faux pas." the messenger said, clearing his throat. "It seems that your predictions were correct, and they are now back on track. Hiro has already made astounding progress controlling his genome, as evidenced by the fact that he refrained from hitting the fai-"

The man growled. "I'm getting tired of hearing you call Nemesis 'the failed Trans'. She may be defective, but she is by no means a failure. Call her Nemesis or I will hire a different messenger, one who has a little more respect for the subjects."

The messenger made a sound like a cross between an eep and a squeal, before bowing and nodding rapidly. "Yes, sir, I understand. I apologize for my insolence, so please forgive me."

"Continue." the man said, not bothering to respond to the messenger's plea.

BREAKBREAKBREAKBREAK

"No, no, no, you're doing the exact opposite of what you're supposed to do!" Nemesis said through Hiro, a tone of obvious annoyance in her voice.

As they had begun this odd method of training, Nemesis had started to become more comfortable inside Hiro's body, and now, she could talk as she normally did through him.

"I'm trying, I'm trying, but I can't just make myself spontaneously go into panic mode! It just kind of happens on its own!"

"If you ever want to be able to control my power, you're going to first have to be able to expel me, and the only way to do that without any outside help is to cause your mind to go into overdrive. Don't think too much about it, just do it!"

"Hiro-kohai, when she Trans-Fuses, she locks your mind into a corner. Find where she has the key and you can break free!" Mea said, sitting on the sidelines, AKA a tree stump in his backyard.

He glanced at her, before closing his eyes to focus again. He started breathing more slowly, trying to relax and concentra-

"Don't concentrate!" came the screeching voice of the Trans inside him. "You can't beat me if you try too hard! Do or don't, there is no process to it!"

Hiro's eye twitched. Now he was getting mad. It wasn't the seething rage he felt when she left his body. It was plain annoyance morphed into anger.

He had spent the last 3 days going through this same routine, a different alien refereeing them every day, and every day he'd get the same shrill yelling. He was at the cusp of his breaking point once again. If he heard one more-

"Why are you still thinking about it?! Do you want Tsubaki to have another victim?!" Nemesis screamed through him.

That's it. he thought. That's crossing the line.

He yelled, a primal sound that seemed far louder than it really was, gripping the sides of his head tightly in his hands.

"Enough of this! I can't do this with all your yelling!" he shouted, visibly shaking.

Nemesis stared at him as he yelled, the force behind his shouts pushing her down into the ground-

Wait. Ground?

Hiro blinked, going silent as he stared at her. "Wait…" he said. "You're…"

Nemesis grinned. "Looks like you succeeded." she said, staring right back at him. "But one time is not enough!"


	30. Nemesis's Perfect Vessel

" _You're starting to get the hang of this._ " Nemesis said, and Hiro grinned.

"I think I'm getting better at reading your thought patterns." he said. "It's making it a lot easier to disrupt you."

 _"You can't see me, but I'm smiling right now_!" Nemesis said excitedly. " _Shortcuts are perfectly legal, in fact, you figuring that out just makes it all the more fun_!"

Hiro smiled again, gritting his teeth, and once again, Nemesis was forced out of his body, emerging in a cloud of black matter before forming into her typical appearance on the ground.

Nemesis grinned, then laughed. "This is fun, I haven't gotten to do any real training in longer than I can remember. Last time I got disrupted, I nearly died!"

Hiro blinked. "During the Darkness incident?" he asked. Nemesis nodded in response.

"Mea and Oshizu are too rough, but you're nice and gentle when you do it." she said. "You saw what happened when _they_ expelled me."

Hiro nodded, cringing at the memory. Even now, that image of her in a puddle of blood on the ground stuck with him. "You looked a lot worse off then than you actually were." he said.

Nemesis shrugged. "It was in the past, I've forgotten how it felt to me. Probably painful." she said.

"Can you not talk and train at the same time?" Yuuki said, catching their attention. He was sitting on the stump Mea had been on the day before, watching them during their practice.

Hiro grinned. "Sorry, forgot you were here." he said, and Yuuki just waved nonchalantly.

"Everybody forgets I'm around. I'm used to it by now." he said. "Better than getting jumped by Momo or Lala at random times."

Nemesis chuckled. "Or me!" she said, and Yuuki grinned.

"Nah, you Trans are Hiro's charges now, I won't try to take you guys away from him." he said. "Have enough people in the harem anyway."

"Well, you seem to have totally accepted Momo's crazy ideas." Hiro said, sitting down cross-legged on the grass.

Rito laughed, a sound that was almost scarily close to the one his father in law often had, not that Hiro had ever met the guy. "Have you ever tried telling Momo 'no'? It's impossible, she simply won't have it." he said.

"Guess that's something else I'll have to learn to control." Hiro said. "Momo's willpower."

Yuuki laughed. "So what should I handle?" he asked. Hiro grinned.

"You can manage her libido, I'm sure you're fine for the job."

Yuuki's face fell to one of horror. "Oh please no, I could never handle that on my own! No man of any species can do that!" he said.

"From what I see in Hiro's head, he might be able to!" Nemesis exclaimed, and Hiro's palm hit his forehead.

"Why are you digging around there?" he asked. "How is that in any way, shape, or form helpful to training?!"

"It's not!" Nemesis said, a goofy grin on her face. "But your thoughts are interesting, I like looking at them!"

Hiro looked at Yuuki. "For the record, I am not a pervert." he said, feeling an odd need to not lose face to his senpai, though the guy was shorter and a lot less intelligent than he was.

Yuuki laughed. "Hey, I feel your pain, Momo says the same things about me. Apparently I'm a demon in my sleep or something like that."

"I did _not_ need to know that." Hiro said, though Nemesis seemed happy with the information. She was definitely _not_ able to honestly say she wasn't a pervert, and Hiro didn't need to share a body with her to see that much.

"Anyway, moving on from this slightly awkward conversation…" Hiro said. "Nemesis, I think I've expelled you enough that I've got it down pretty well. What's the next phase of this training?"

Nemesis grinned. "Next, you're going to do the same thing...but minus me."

Hiro blinked. "...Was that supposed to make sense?" he asked, staring at her.

She laughed. "Your lack of control when I'm not inside you is because when I'm in you, I balance out your emotion by maintaining my genome that you contain, and without me, that balance is lost. Therefore, you lose control. However, now that you can expel me successfully, you should be able to do the same to your own emotion, dispersing it like you do me."

"So, I have to expel the part of you inside me?" he summarized, but the girl shook her head.

"No, no, this time, you can't expel it. Because what you have now isn't actually me, but a part of your actual genetics, so it isn't actually possible for you to kick it out of you."

Hiro blinked. "Could you explain that in normal terms?" he asked, making her laugh.

"Right, right. It comes naturally to me, I forgot you weren't born with it." she said.

"I'm interested in hearing this too, I've wondered about how you can do what you do for a while now." Yuuki said, walking up to them.

Nemesis looked at him and grinned. "Going to tell Gid my secrets?" she asked slyly, and Yuuki rapidly shook his head.

"No, of course not! I'm just curious...And Gid and I aren't exactly on each other's contact list…" he said.

Nemesis laughed. "Gid started Project Nemesis, the thing that I came from, so he already knows how my body works." she said. "So whatever I say really doesn't matter anyway."

"Who is Gid?" Hiro asked, clearly confused.

Yuuki shrugged. "The leader of the Devilukean Empire. Lala's father." he said simply, and Hiro nodded in understanding.

"Anyway, Hiro. Want me to explain how exactly I function? It'll definitely help both to satisfy your curiosity and to advance your training."

Hiro nodded. "Shoot, I'm ready to listen." he said.

Nemesis nodded. "Well, first of all, and you may know this already, but I'm not a being made of matter. Rather, I'm composed of dark matter, a usually invisible force that is 3 times more common within the universe than typical matter."

Hiro nodded. "You've told me before, and I do understand how dark matter works." he said, and Nemesis nodded.

"I was the sole success of an experiment called Project Nemesis, a project spearheaded by Deviluke as a final attempt at creating an ultimate Trans. I was considered a failure because I can't actually create weapons, so I was cast out and eventually found myself on Earth."

Hiro nodded, sitting down so he could listen more intently.

"Anyway, that's not important, I was going to tell you about my physiology, not my past."

"It's still interesting hearing you talk about yourself." Yuuki said. "I don't know how open you are with Hiro-san, but I never heard you talk about your past."

"There's a reason I don't." Nemesis said to him. "I'm like Hiro in that regard."

Hiro sighed. "I don't even need to explain anything to you anymore. I bet you already knew everything the first time you Trans-Fused with me."

"No, I happen to have only gone into your musculature that time. I was focused on repairing your neck."

"Anyway, let's go back to the topic at hand." Hiro said, and the other two nodded in agreement.

"Right, sorry, I tend to go off on a tangent." Nemesis said.

"We know." both Yuuki and Hiro said simultaneously.

"Right...Anyway, being made of dark matter, I can naturally assimilate into any shape, and my unique ability, Trans-Fusion, is the pinnacle of that capability."

"Because dark matter exists in the gaps between atoms." Hiro theorized.

Nemesis nodded. "Exactly, though I don't know if, had there been other survivors, it could be possible with any of them."

"Anyway, my Trans-Fusion works by sending my dark matter particles into the gaps between material bonds. In simpler terms, I can merge my body with someone else's." Nemesis continued.

"Why can't you Trans-Fuse with inorganic objects then?" Yuuki asked.

Nemesis shrugged. "I like to call it 'convenient drawback'. I have no earthly idea why I can't, it's no less possible in theory than bonding with living things. It's kind of like how I can Trans-Fuse with some species, and some individuals, better than others."

"So, is that why you cann me 'perfect vessel'?" Hiro asked. "Because it's so easy for you to Trans-Fuse with me?"

Nemesis thought, before shaking her head. "No, actually. My ability to Trans-Fuse with you is around average, judging by your capability to kick me out." she said. "I call you perfect because you and I are extremely compatible personality-wise, meaning that we can read each other without really trying, given that both of us are experienced in doing so. I plan to teach you about that, but only after you've mastered controlling your emotions first. I may seem like I don't really care about any possible consequences, but Mikado-sensei is right, us doing this is dangerous. We don't have any idea what could happen, and I've recently been getting the feeling that I can't stay inside you safely for long, even without you training to expel me."

"Yeah, I've been getting pretty tired recently every time we stop to take a break." Hiro noticed. "But that's probably just me being exhausted from overworking my brain."

Nemesis nodded. "Hopefully that's all it is. In any case, you already seem to be doing well with stage 2 of your training." she pointed out.

"I have?" Hiro asked, surprised, and Nemesis laughed.

"You haven't tried to kill me in the last few minutes." she pointed out.

Hiro blinked. "Yeah, guess I haven't...I haven't really felt too angry for some reason."

Nemesis grinned. "The first part of our training seems to have given you quite a bit of additional understanding of how to hold back." she said.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

"Camellia, it's time to go!" called the woman, and the girl looked up from the sketchbook she was holding, drawing images that seemed far to advanced for a 5-year-old to be making.

"Okay, Mommy, I'm coming!" she called, closing the sketchbook and setting it down in the crack between her bed and the wall.

She stood up on the floor, stretching her arms up and back to work out the kinks from sitting mostly still for as long as she had, a low groan escaping her mouth as the tension was relieved.

She grinned to herself, standing still. It wasn't hard to get her to take me there. she thought to herself. Though I'm not sure how I'll explain it when she finds out he lives alone…

She chuckled quietly. "I wonder how he's handling since 7 years ago..." she wondered. "I do hope he's willing to put up some sort of fight. I'm quite curious to see what this 'Tsubaki's Game' he's planning consists of."

BREAKBREAKBREAK

"How is he doing?" the man asked, looking at his messenger.

The messenger nodded. "His training with Nemesis is going well." he replied. "He has discovered how to successfully disrupt her Trans-Fusion, and is currently working on controlling her genome when she isn't inside his body."

The man smiled, tapping the arm of his chair lightly. "Good, good." he said. "Everything is going according to plan. It was a good call interfering when we did, otherwise he'd have never gotten the control required to make the project a success."

The messenger nodded. "He has also started working more closely with Yuuki Rito and Princess Momo." he added.

The man blinked, frowning slightly. "Momo? She wasn't predicted to get involved any farther than she did getting Mea into the project."

"Sir, with all due respect, you should know better than anyone about Momo's habit of not following simulations."

The man laughed. "Good point. She's a wild one, that girl. No matter, we'll simply run predictions again, her presence shouldn't alter the course that far."


	31. Camellia is too Adorable

The woman tilted her head, looking at the house, her hand loosely wrapped around the child's. "Camellia, isn't this the home of that man who protected you back then?" she asked curiously.

The girl smiled innocently, nodding. "Mmhmm! I wanted to see him again!" she said.

The woman chuckled. "And what brought this up? You haven't even mentioned him in weeks, what changed?"

"I dunno, I just wanted to visit him!" the girl said, looking at the house. "Can we see him?!" she asked excitedly.

The woman smiled. "Of course, if it's not too much of a bother." she said, and they walked up to the door.

She knocked a few times, and Camellia jumped forward to knock repeatedly.

"Hold on, I'm coming!" someone shouted from inside, and the distinct sound of something being knocked over sounded through the door.

"Stupid plate, I'll deal with you later…" sounded a clearly ticked off girl, before the door opened, revealing a slightly disheveled and irritated Yami.

"What do you want?" she asked coarsely, before blinking, looking over the visitors.

Her face noticeably softened. "Oh, sorry...I was trying to make snacks, and I'm not exactly the best at doing stuff for other people…" she said. "Who are you exactly?"

Camellia grit her teeth, though she made sure to maintain a straight face. What is she doing here? she thought. Hiro lives alone, doesn't he?

She stared at Yami, a stormy expression crossing her eyes. Don't tell me...Don't tell me Mr. Pointy-Teeth's project is already underway?

She growled, low enough that the Trans wouldn't hear her. That's the only explanation for why SHE'S here. She wouldn't ever interact with Hiro unless that project was fully underway…

She smiled widely. "Hello, Onee-chan!" she said, in that funny way little children refer to their elders. "Where's Nakamura-san?"

Yami blinked. "Out back, training with Nemesis." she replied, though she obviously didn't expect the little girl to actually know what she was talking about. She turned to the woman. "Are you her mother? Nakamura-san is busy right now, so if you don't mind, I'll have to ask you to leave. We weren't expecting visitors anyway."

The woman nodded. "My daughter was adamant on coming." she explained. "And who might you be? Nakamura-kun's girlfriend?" she asked, grinning slyly.

Yami blinked, and her face went red at the sudden question. "N-No, he's not! I am his guardian, Konjiki no Yami. But just call me Yami, everyone else does."

The woman nodded. "Nice to meet you, Yami-chan." she said, before looking down at the child. "Well, Camellia, we can't really overstay our welcome. If he's busy, we'll come back later."

Camellia stamped her foot on the ground, pouting. "I wanna see Hiro!" she shouted.

"Yami, your turn!" called someone from inside, and Yami turned around. Momo walked up, grinning. "We're taking a break first though, Hiro needs to rest after that last session." She whistled. "And Nemesis is exhausted too. Seems her idea of 'training' is tiring for all involved."

Yami rolled her eyes, glancing back at Camellia. "Well, if he's resting, might as well come in." she said,looked back at Momo, who looked a lot more...clean, to say the least, than the yellow-haired Trans. "Kid named Camellia and her mother came to visit Hiro." she said.

Momo's face lifted in a smile. "Hey, that's the kid Hiro saved...what...two months ago, now?" she said, looking at Camellia. "I didn't get to see you, but Hiro told us about you!" she said.

Camellia grinned, walking in ahead of her mother. "Hiro's a good person!" she stated happily, and Momo nodded.

"A very good person. Even now, he's training to be even better!" she said.

A laugh from the back of the house. "Momo, are you trying to make people like me more again?" someone asked, in what was obviously Hiro's voice, and he appeared in the hallway, drenched in sweat despite the fact that outside, it was cool, being the tail end of winter.

He glanced at Camellia, and grinned. "Haven't seen you in a while. How are you doing?"

Camellia smiled, waving at him. "Hello, Hiro!" she said excitedly. "Do you remember me?"

What is this 'training' that he's been doing? How does it involve that failure of a Trans? she thought worriedly. I sincerely hope I'm jumping to conclusions, otherwise Tsubaki's assassination attempt seriously flopped, for him to be back on his feet so soon.

She glanced around the room. Hopefully she at least succeeded in driving him and that girl apart. She was another possible member of Mr. Pointy-Teeth's little experiment.

Hiro smiled. "So what brings you here today?" he asked, looking at her mother.

The woman smiled. "Camellia wanted to visit, though she won't say why." she said.

Camellia grinned, jumping up and wrapping her arms around Hiro's torso. "I wanted to say thanks again! I dunno why I took so long though!" Kami, he smells like sweat and iron…

Hiro blinked, laughing, and Momo grinned.

"Looks like you've got another admirer, Hiro-san…" she said, and he looked at her and laughed again.

"Guess so." he replied, looking at the child currently attached to his upper body. "Camellia, could you possibly let go? I'm still kind of sweaty from my training."

Gladly, your sweat is disgusting. "Oh, sorry, Hiro!" she said happily, letting go and standing up. "Training?" she asked, tilting her head. "What kind of training?"

Hiro shook his head, patting the top of her head with a hand and smiling. "I doubt you'd understand, don't worry about it."

...Sometimes I forget I'm supposed to be a child. Curse this body! she thought, before grinning. "I wanna know, though!"

"Imagine having someone else inside your head, keeping you from controlling your own body." a voice said from the back door, and Nemesis appeared, wearing an outfit she'd changed into while Hiro was talking with the girl. "And you have to learn how to force them out. That's the kind of training we're doing."

Camellia blinked, then pressed a fist to her hand as if she'd had a realization. "Like those weird black and white movies Mommy watches sometimes!"

The woman laughed nervously. "Camellia, you're not supposed to watch those. They'll give you nightmares."

Camellia laughed, looking at her mother. "Mommy, they're not scary." she deadpanned, before turning back to Nemesis. "Can I try?" she asked. "I wanna see if I can make you come out!"

It isn't like she'll find anything unusual, that failure's easy to block out. she thought to herself, though she was naturally still worried should the Trans agree.

Nemesis laughed lightly. "Sorry, I only do it with Hiro." she said, walking over to the male and draping herself over his shoulders.

Camellia pouted. "But i wanna try too!"

The woman sighed. "Camellia, don't annoy the nice girl." she said. "And obviously she can't actually go into your mind, that's impossible!" She tilted her head, looking at the two. "So who are you?" she asked politely. "Nakamura-san's…"

"Cousin." both Nemesis and Hiro said simultaneously. "We're cousins."

The woman nodded. "You do look quite similar." she said.

They looked at each other. Again with people thinking they looked alike. The only similarity they shared was their hair color. What was it with people and this weird relative effect?

Yami sighed. "Nakamura-san, I forgot to ask earlier, but how did your training go today?" she asked, and Hiro glanced at her.

"It's alright, but I'm exhausted as usual. How are you holding up, Nemesis?"

Nemesis made some kind of elongated groaning sound and slouched farther over his shoulders, resting her head on his collarbone. "Dealing with you is way too exhausting. You're such a handful…" she complained. "But it's fun at least, it's nice being the teacher for once."


	32. Rogue Alien Camellia

"Well, I think it's time for us to go." Camellia's mother said, glancing at the clock on Hiro's wall. "Come on, Camellia, we can't hold Nakamura-san from his training, whatever it may be."

Camellia looked at her, before grinning and waving, jumping up from her spot next to Momo on the couch and running to the woman. "Hai-Hai!" she said happily.

The woman smiled and patted the top of the girl's head, before nodding to Hiro. "Have a good day." she said, and Hiro grinned and waved.

As soon as the door was closed, Camellia looked down and grit her teeth, her childish expression replaced by the grim seriousness that she often had when on her own. Well, this is going to be a little more difficult than I previously expected… she thought. He's already gotten those two AND Princess Momo on his side, and who knows how long it'll be until Mea also becomes a factor. Mr. Pointy-Teeth planned well, for this to happen in such a short amount of time.

She glanced at the woman, who was for the most part ignoring her. I'm starting to get antsy. Things are happening way too quickly. If Deviluke is involved with this, and I'm sure those pests in the research division are, then I'm going to have some serious issues.

She sighed to herself. I have to ditch this woman soon, she's useless to me now. She's just deadweight.

She shook her head. No, that's a bad idea. I can't just get rid of useless people, that would attract too much unwanted attention. I'll have to bide my time until circumstances are right. And I still know too little about this Tsubaki's Game plan that Hiro has, I can't act recklessly or he'll catch me unaware. Many things can be said about that pest, but his intelligence is something worth recognizing. I can't slip up until I'm absolutely certain that I'm ready to face whatever he's planning. Oh, the troubles of warfare. Nobody knows what the other is planning.

She grinned maliciously. At least he's still fixated on Tsubaki. That makes predicting his moves a little bit easier on me. I need to quickly solve the little issue of his identity, though. Whatever he is, he is not human, if that feeling I got when I hugged him was anything to go by. What did Mr. Pointy-Teeth do to him over the last 7 years?

BREAKBREAKBREAK

"Sir! Our espionage team has found evidence of something you may want to hear about!" the messenger shouted, practically running into the room he and the man frequently conversed in.

The man looked at him and grinned widely, showing off the pointed teeth that Camellia often cursed. "What is it? Is it to do with the fly that's been buzzing around the project?" he asked.

The messenger nodded. "We've detected traces of Ragnarian neural impulses in the west side of Sainan. We were able to successfully track the traces to a small home, which upon further research we've found holds two people, a single mother and her daughter. They are often together, so it is not yet clear which is the Ragnarian."

The man laughed, clearly happy at the revelation. "So we've found her?" he asked, sitting straight in his seat.

The messenger shook his head. "The identity of the Ragnarian in unclear, but it is a possibility. However, the relative impulses from the Ragnarian are fundamentally different from those detected that day 7 years ago. It is unlikely that it is Tsubaki."

The man chuckled, shaking his head. "You do not understand the Ragnarians as I do, if you are saying that. Tell me, how much do you know of their kind?" he said calmly.

"Sir, they are an amorphous parasite race who burrow into organisms and take over their neural circuits. They usually control corpses per Devilukean law, but there are rogues like Tsubaki who take living bodies."

The man grinned. "You are half correct. Not only do they take the physical form of their host, they also modify their own neural patterns to better suit the species of the container. A single Ragnarian will be different between hosts, to the point that it is difficult to consider them the same individual."

"What are you saying, sir?" the messenger asked, and the man nodded.

"I am saying that this new Ragnarian could still potentially be the same one that tried to kill our resident test subject, though it is highly unlikely, seeing as Tsubaki has a record of only taking on male hosts. In other words, continue researching that household, and keep a loose eye, but do not engage it. There are many aliens living in Sainan, it is entirely possible that this is simply a completely unrelated Ragnarian immigrant who is trying to start a new life on Earth."

"Sir, is that really a safe decision?" the messenger asked. The man laughed, shrugging in response.

"Remember, Earth is not a part of the Devilukean Empire, so we cannot do anything about it unless we have strong enough proof to get involved further."

BREAKBREAKBREAK

Hiro sat in his bed, stretching and looking out the window. It was earlier than usual, only around 6 am. He'd found it easier to wake up recently, oddly enough. It must have been a result of all of his training with Nemesis altering his mind to function more quickly.

He silently thanked her for it, and chuckled to himself.

Thanking an alien for invading his mind. He really had changed. Even since a week or so ago, when his reaction would be blowing up and smashing her into a wall thanks to his total lack of control.

Now that he had learned how to almost completely suppress his emotional swings, he felt a lot calmer than he had ever felt before. It was odd, really, how much he'd changed.

He thought back to before he'd first found Nemesis, how he'd been like then.

Lonesome, for the most part. He had never liked being around people, and had reveled in his ability to drive them away. He had been filled with bitter hatred for aliens and for people as a whole, and every day he'd had to keep his teeth grit to prevent himself from screaming and tossing a desk a ignond/or person.

A sad life, looking back. Now that he was used to his tiny "cousin", he had come to realize that he, for lack of a better word, hated that old life he'd lead.

It wasn't perfect now, he still couldn't trust most of the aliens he knew farther than he could throw them, and he still had second thoughts about letting Yukihime get involved.

Now that he knew better and could think more clearly, he realized that when she'd talked to him on the roof that day, she really had been trying to help him. She hadn't intended to hurt him, though she knew how deeply he had been affected by Tsubaki's attack.

He smiled. She was always a good person, he knew that, despite her tendency to dominate over everything he did in class. And she honestly did care about him, he knew that. It was no secret how she felt about him, despite how hard she tried to hide it from him. He'd ignored her feelings for years, not wanting anything to do with her. Even now, he still found it hard to care, since by now, it really no longer mattered, and he had a feeling she knew as much already.

Thinking about Yukihime and relationships and ignorance, he started wondering about Nemesis. He doubted she was the kind of person to bother with such a thing, but nothing gets past his observant eyes.

He generally could determine how people saw him from how they acted around him. Momo saw him as an experiment, a means to her little Harem Project's success. Yuuki saw him as a genuine equal, and he found himself quite liking the guy's company whenever he came over. Mea's views on him were obvious even without her constantly reminding him that she was a part of "Hiro-kohai's harem". Yami wasn't one to talk about personal matters, but he had a feeling she simply saw him as a chance to redeem herself for all her years of assassination and hiding in the shadows.

She called herself his guardian angel, though he saw her more as a shadow wrapped around him and keeping him from being hurt. "Yami no tenshi", he called her whenever she wasn't around. Who knew how she'd feel about being called a shadow.

But Nemesis wasn't quite so easy to read. She was always excitable, and often outspoken about her excitement to him. She was the type to not keep secrets, and now that he was sharing a head with her for hours a day, there really was nothing to hide anyway.

But she was also not the type to talk directly about ANYTHING. He'd never get a straight answer from her words, and her actions were often conflicting when it came too how she saw him.

...Now that he thought about it, this whole line of thought felt selfish to him. He wasn't really thinking of how they felt, just how they felt about him specifically.

So he changed his thoughts to Tsubaki, the one person he didn't feel the slightest shred of guilt for his unrelenting hatred for. She deserved it, and whenever she was mentioned, everyone else clearly had the same opinion as him.

She deserved to die a slow and painful death, and he would be the one to deal the final blow. He didn't care if Ragnarians were supposed to be immortal, he would find a way to kill her if it was the last thing he'd do.

Of course, he'd take into account everyone else who was willing to help him. They were valuable to succeeding. But he would also be sure not to act as if they were just tools, a means to an end.

They were people too, despite most of them being aliens, and he would keep them alive with everything he had. That he promised, just as strongly as he promised Tsubaki's death.

He smiled. Funny how he was promising the death of someone who he still wasn't certain was even alive or not.


	33. Happy Birthday, Hiro!

Hiro yawned, stretching as he walked into the living room. "Ehhh, I did NOT get enough sleep yesterday." he complained, then blinked as he looked around.

Everyone was there today. The three Trans and the Devilukean twins occupied the couch, and Yuuki had apparently brought Lala along. Yukihime and Mikado-sensei were standing nearby, Yukihime crossing her arms, apparently lost in thought.

When he walked in, everyone glanced at him, before going back to their various conversations. He blinked, confused.

"Why's everyone ignoring me?" he asked, looking around, and as expected, nobody replied. They acted as if he wasn't even there. Even Yukihime didn't so much as glance in his direction.

Hiro tilted his head, and his eye twitched. Yet again, they were invading his house, and they had the audacity to ignore him. He didn't know why they did, but it irritated him.

"Okay, what the heck is up today?" he asked, his tone filled with his irritation. "And why is Lala here?"

"Moral support." Yuuki said simply, before going back to an apparently heated conversation with Mea about...dreams?

Nemesis waved a hand. "Just go train by yourself today, we're busy." she said lightly, without even looking at him. "Nana, you don't get it. There's a difference between pi and pie. Seriously, your sisters are way too smart for their own good, and then you're over here confused about homonyms."

Hiro blinked. Now he was very confused. Nemesis never ignored him for anything, it was usually him who ignored her. What could possibly be so important that not a single person would talk to him?

He turned around to head to his backyard, deciding to take Nemesis's word for it and train on his own. He'd gotten his control down pretty well now, or else he'd have probably sent someone flying for their decision to ignore him, but it never hurt to practice. Even if the subject of his practice wouldn't be present.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

The man grinned, alone in his room and watching a screen on the wall in front of his chair. "Alright, Tsubaki. I'm starting to get tired of waiting. Go ahead and do what we both know you want to. Come out into the light so that I may crush you like the pest that you are." he said, chuckling. "A bug has no place interfering with a god's work."

BREAKBREAKBREAK

Camellia sighed, starting at the wall of her bedroom. "So Hiro's gotten a hand on all three Trans, and Princess Momo to boot." she said to herself. "I'm going to have to act soon, regardless of what constitutes Tsubaki's Game. It's simply too dangerous to be patient now, with all those people allying themselves with him."

She growled. "Problem is, I bet Mr. Pointy-Teeth's got people watching everything I do now. It's unreasonable to think he doesn't know I'm Ragnarian, even if I do not have Tsubaki's signature."

She sighed. "What to do, what to do?" she asked. "On Hiro's side, Mr. Pointy-Teeth's first little test subject and some of his harem, and Hiro's already almost completed the experiment's criteria…"

She bit her lip. "When I visited, they didn't seem TOO close to him...but if they stay with him like that, a true bond will certainly form...Nemesis already seems to have fallen for him, and I doubt I could take her on with my current level of skill, so she's a lost cause. Yami seems to be content with her place now, so I doubt I need to worry about her. But then there's Mea...I have too little information on how Mea sees him." she said worriedly, chewing on her fingernail. "I have to keep him from gaining all three's unconditional love and trust, or else Tsubaki's attempts will be for nothing…"

She blinked, then grinned. "Oh, of course, I am such an idiot!" she exclaimed, clapping her forehead with her palm. "I don't even need to worry about whether Deviluke is watching! One false move won't matter! I can't believe I missed such an obvious solution."

She laughed loudly, insanely, before stopping and holding her hand over her mouth, glancing at her door. When several moments passed and nothing happened, she sighed, inhaling deeply.

"I can't let that woman hear me plotting, she still may be useful." She smiled. "Though if this works, I won't need her anymore, and I can then get rid of her at my leisure."

"And if it fails, well, what's the worst that can happen? This host dying?" She laughed. "I am a Ragnarian, if my host dies, I'll just move on and try again!"

She frowned. "It is so irritating having to find a new body though, I hope that doesn't happen."

BREAKBREAKBREAK

Hiro sat outside, on his own, just thinking. He had trained for a few minutes, but it just wasn't the same without Nemesis around telling him what to do, so he'd stopped, and now, silence had fallen in the backyard.

He knew that everyone was planning something, and it was probably either Momo or Nemesis at the head of it. There was just no other reason why they'd ignore him so completely.

That was even ignoring Nemesis's oddly cold reaction to him asking what was happening. As far as he remembered, she'd never so much as spoken negatively about him, now, she had downright told him to go away.

It was odd, nothing else to say about it. But he wouldn't question it, he had a feeling he'd find out what was going on in due time. It still felt odd that they'd decided to kick him out, when they were still using his house as a base of operations, but hey, most of them were alien, and his views on them has been well established.

Whatever, he didn't really care anyway. It was just annoying that he had to be on his own, he'd actually gotten used to them all being around. It made life interesting.

In any case, training on his own was boring and, frankly, completely unnecessary. So he just sat around waiting, for what, he didn't actually know.

After about an hour or so of just sitting around for absolutely no reason other than he felt like they were doing something inside that he wanted no part of, he finally got tired of sitting in the sun and decided to go in for something to eat.

As soon as he walked in, he was tackled by a blur of magenta and yellow, and found the two taller Trans latched onto his arms.

This in itself wasn't really that unusual anymore, since Yami often stayed as close as she could to him for his "protection", and Mea took Momo's Harem Plan MK II WAY too seriously. But he didn't expect it since they'd been completely ignoring him earlier that day.

"Guess what day it is?!" Nemesis said excitedly, running up to him, with the rest in tow.

Hiro stared at her in bewilderment. "Uhh...March 14th?" he asked, still confused.

Nemesis frowned, before grinning, and everyone, smiled, before collectively shouting "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

Hiro jumped in reaction, though he was held down by the girls weighing down his arms. "Uhh...what?" he asked, confused. "How did you know it was my birthday? And why does it matter?"

"I saw it in your mind a couple days ago. Why didn't you say that your birthday was soon? You're 15 now, right?" Nemesis said excitedly.

Hiro tilted his head. "Birthdays don't matter to me." he said simply. "I never celebrated my birthday, or anyone else's. It's just a day."

"That's not a good mindset to have. Birthdays are special, you need to celebrate them!" Nana said, for once the more vocal of the twins.

Lala, possibly feeling left out for never having been invited over to meet the person who'd saved Nemesis's life, stepped up and grabbed his hand, pulling him and the Trans forward with an enormous grin. "Come on, we're celebrating, so you might as well too!" she said.

Hiro sighed, letting himself get dragged by her. There really was no point in resisting, not with this group. Besides, what harm could there be in having a birthday party, even if he didn't believe in it?

So, he found himself sitting at his table in front of a store-bought cake, with everyone crowding around, most of them standing because his table didn't have that many seats.

He was surprised at how many of the knew the song. He'd expected most of them, being aliens, to not be aware of the custom, but oddly, only Yami really had any trouble with it. Then again, it was repetitive and easy to remember, so that may have helped.

When the song ended, before Hiro could blow out the candles, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" Mea said, getting up and walking over. "I bet that's Mikan-kohai!" she said.

The others turned away from her to face Hiro again, who was about to blow out the candles when a loud thump came from the direction of the door following her opening it, and they all turned to face her.

Mea was on the ground, her neck twisted at an odd angle, and in front of her stood Camellia, grinning insanely.

"Happy Birthday, Hiro!" she said, removing her hands from Mea's head.


	34. Beak of the Crow

All was silent for several moments, everyone just staring at the girl and the obviously unmoving body of Mea. The air was tense, like a string about to snap, and with good reason.

Hiro's mind was all over the place as he attempted to sort out what had just happened. One minute, they were celebrating his birthday, and everyone was at the table, and the next, one of the strongest people here was on the ground in front of a 6-year-old.

He didn't know how to react. He stood stock still, only able to stare, a thousand thoughts racing through his head. He couldn't sort through them, they raced too quickly, unbidden by his consciousness.

He didn't have to react. Someone made a loud screech from his side, and he broke his gaze from Camellia to turn his head and look.

The screech had come from Yami, probably the last person he'd have expected to make such a sound.

She was glaring at Camellia, and seemed to be glowing in rage…

Wait. She was _actually glowing_. Hiro's eyes widened as he instantly realized what was going on, despite never having seen it happen before.

She was activating her Darkness Program.

Hiro had heard about the Darkness Program from Mea and the others, so he knew a little about what it was. An ability that made saiyans from the DBZ series look weak, that had the supposed ability to cut a planet in half with a single attack.

Darkness had two criteria Yami must meet in order for it to work, from what he knew. Firstly, she had to be at peace with herself. He knew she already had met that criterium a long time ago.

Tsubaki had met the second criterium, a 'catalyst' to kickstart the program, something that could shock the first Trans to her very core. There was no reason for any of them to sugarcoat it, Mea was dead.

Hiro may not have been able to decide how he should act, but Yami's genetics had taken over and made the decision for her.

"Yami, you have to calm down!" Yuuki said, leaping into action as he moved around the unmoving people between him and her, grabbing her shoulders and looking straight into her eyes, her features now almost invisible under the yellow glow of Darkness's activation sequence.

As soon as he touched her, a shockwave blasted outward from her body, blasting the area around her and sending the group flying away from her. The shockwave even knocked part of the roof and wall off, sending a cloud of debris collapsing down on her.

Hiro hit the ground hard on his shoulder, twisted around by the explosion to face Camellia again. He saw her face change from a look of cool confidence to one of pure terror. Understandable, if she had attacked like this, she must have known what she was getting into, but nobody could prepare for something like Darkness. How could you, when Yami was such a shy girl most of the time?

His head swam, and his vision started to black out, though he could still hear as sharply as before.

"I'm out of here." Camellia said quietly, though it was loud enough for Hiro to hear. "Later, I am _not_ dealing with this."

She turned to run, leaving Mea's unmoving body on the ground, hightailing it out of there as quickly as she could. _Good luck with that_. Hiro thought, watching her, though he couldn't move under the heavy pressure coupling with Yami's transformation. _If Yami fully transforms before someone can calm her down, you won't be able to get away._

He barely cared about his house now being partially destroyed. The only thing that worried him now was the alien who'd lost control of herself.

He managed to turn his head enough to look at her, and saw the rest of the group in the same predicament he was, before the light from Yami's body completely overtook all other details.

The pressure in the air was odd. It made him light headed and made it hard to see anything, even without her light, but he didn't feel like he was going to pass out. If anything, his mental processes felt faster, with more clarity than before, as if Darkness's power was being shared with him.

Was this an ability that Nemesis had? When he looked at her, her eyes were wide open as he assumed his were, staring at Yami, and she seemed to be fighting the force of the pressure, though even she was failing. She almost looked like she was starting to melt. She was probably having trouble staying in her physical form with so much power being exerted over her.

Hiro couldn't think about what Camellia had done, or what Camellia might actually be, because no human could kill a Trans as powerful as Mea, with the sight of Darkness in front of him.

He had not been at school for the previous Darkness's manifestation, and seeing it now, he had no desire to see her before. It was terrifying, not because of its appearance, she was just covered in light, but because of the power it diffused. Yami didn't, evidently, couldn't, move an inch during the transformation, but he knew that as soon as she completed it, she would be near-unstoppable.

 _Yuuki-san, how were you able to stop her before?_ he asked himself, glancing over to the other boy, though judging by the way he laid on the ground, he wouldn't be able to speak, even if he wasn't already unconscious from the powerful gravity. He would get no answers from him. A glance at the Devilukeans told him the same thing. Nemesis was currently busy trying to keep herself from literally melting under the pressure, an odd sight had Hiro not been used to seeing the amorphous form she took whenever she was transitioning between being outside and inside his body.

Which meant that he was the only one to prevent Darkness from coming out, because if someone like Lala couldn't fight it, then a human like Yukihime or a physically weak alien like Mikado-sensei would definitely be of no use.

He grit his teeth, testing to see how well he could fight the gravitational force, and found that, despite feeling like a particularly heavy person was sitting on every inch of his body, he could still move relatively easily, though his muscles felt numb as he moved.

He fought against the numbness and the weight, gradually pulling himself into a sitting position, before turning to face Yami.

"Yami!" he shouted, his voice sounding clear in his ears despite the pressure, and from the shape of her head below the light turning to face him, she clearly heard it too. "I don't know how you managed to go back last time, but you have to stop now, before you fully transform!"

Of course that didn't work. He didn't expect it to. The pressure only increased, driving him back down to the ground, barely holding himself up on his hands.

At first, it seemed like it had worked, the light around Yami fading, like a line receding up her body, but once it faded, it became obvious that it had failed.

Her black battle dress was the same in design, but it had shrunk, accommodating her now-smaller body, and her hair was more wild than it normally was, sticking up in all directions, as if her hair had decided to become just a cluster of ahoge. The cape of her dress was closer to her body, wrapping around the legs that now were missing the odd unexplained straps she usually bore.

None of that was what really surprised Hiro. What surprised him was her face. Blank, expressionless eyes, and a frown deeper than her usual permanent line. Her face was markedly pointed, giving her a kind of elfin or avian appearance.

All in all, the best word to describe her would be _creepy_. He'd heard Nemesis mention before that Yami had once before activated Darkness long before coming to Earth, and from how she'd described her, he imagined her to be much like this.

After the light fully vanished, the gravitational waves disappeared as well, as if their only purpose had been to prevent anyone from disturbing her transformation, and as soon as they did, Hiro jumped up and ran to her, not thinking about the danger or the idiocy of what he was doing at all.

He felt light, like he was made of air, as he was suddenly able to move freely, now that the weight had gone, and he had a feeling his sense of time had been distorted by the sudden change, because it felt like it took forever for him to get across the few feet between him and her.

Now that he was standing, he realized that she was several inches shorter now than before. She barely reached the bottom of his neck. She'd only seemed taller because he'd been on the floor looking up at her.

"Yami, get control of yourself!" he shouted in her face, an expression of worry playing across his face. Whether he was more worried about what had happened to Mea, about Camellia's identity, about Darkness's power, or about Yami herself, he couldn't say. Probably all of the above.

She stared up at him, blinking once, though her expression didn't change.

"Even now." she said simply, and Hiro tilted his head. Her voice was flat, as emotionless as her face.

"What?" he asked hopefully. Maybe she had control after all. Then again, she had spoken quite animatedly the last time as well, from what he heard.

A small smile cracked her face. "Even now, you're still just a stupid hero."


	35. Nevermore

Hiro smiled. "Do you have control now?" he asked her. She could remember their running joke of his moniker, so that must have meant she was alright, right?

She laughed, shaking her head. "You're an idiot, Nakamura-san." she said simply. "Once I go into Darkness, I can no longer fight my desires, and no talking will be able to convince me otherwise."

Hiro's expression dropped. "Then how do I stop you?" he asked. She sounded reasonable, maybe she would be able to help him, because while his brain was running on overtime trying to think of a way to fix this before it got out of hand, nothing was coming up.

Yami grinned, before two feathered wings sprouted from her back, black as night. He had seen her using her wings before to travel around, but they had always been white. Now, she truly looked like an "angel of darkness".

"I don't want to be stopped!" she exclaimed, before her wings spread out and pumped downward, forcing her into the air through the hole formed in the roof by her transformation.

Without thinking, Hiro grabbed onto her leg with one hand when she went up, and was consequently lifted as well.

Let it never be said that a Trans as potent as Yami couldn't hold up a single extra person's weight, even at such an odd angle. She held up well, practically completely unaffected by the added weight. Well, physically unaffected, at least.

"Get off me!" she shouted, looking down at him, kicking her free leg at him.

Hiro grabbed onto that leg with his free hand, frozen in place. He had no idea what had happened or why he had grabbed her, but he was paying the price now, high above the ground holding on for dear life to the legs of a girl who really doesn't look the part of "insane out of control planet-destroyer".

 _How did I manage to do this?_ he thought to himself. _Didn't I say I would do my best NOT to do the things a cliche anime protagonist would? Yet here I am in midair trying to get the out-of-control girl under control. I bet next I'm going to try to talk her out of it, and she'll magically understand. Maybe she'll even do the wide-eyed sudden realization thing they always do._

He chuckled at the thought. _Yeah, right, Yami's not the kind of person to do that. Well, screw it, I've been pretty cliche recently anyway, why not add more?_

He looked up at her, and immediately looked back down after realizing that he had a perfect view below the hem of her dress. Oh, well, he'd have to do this without looking up.

"So, your Darkness works by taking your most primal desire and making it your singular goal, right?" he asked.

Yami hesitated, a small vibration going through her body as she shifted on the air current. "Yes…" she said hesitantly. "Why does that matter? My goal now is exactly the same as it was before. It is the same as your goal. I want to kill Tsubaki."

Hiro blinked. "Yami..That was not Tsubaki. I would know if it was Tsubaki. That was someone else, claiming to be Camellia."

"That was not Camellia." Yami stressed. "Right from the first time I saw her, I knew there was something very wrong with that girl. I don't think Camellia ever existed at all. That was Tsubaki taking a new host."

That got Hiro thinking. He would have slapped his forehead in realization if he wasn't gripping onto her legs. He'd been going about his plan as if Tsubaki was still using the same host as she had the last time he'd seen her.

Of freaking course she had changed! He knew for a fact that her last host was long dead, obviously she would be in a new form!

He didn't know much about her other than what he'd seen, but he had a feeling it was entirely possible that she'd chosen a completely different new body than the one she'd had before.

He did think Camellia was unnaturally mature for her age, and when he thought about it, he realized something else.

She hadn't spoken Japanese to him, either when she'd attacked or when he first saved her life. She had spoken in fluent English, and he hadn't realized it because he was also a native speaker.

But that didn't explain how Momo and the others had understood her when she and her 'mother' visited. Unless…

Of course they knew English too! And even her name, Camellia, was not Japanese in origin.

It wasn't much evidence, but he had a feeling it was true. Camellia was Tsubaki.

Camellia and Tsubaki were one and the same. Hiro had no idea how to respond to this new information. The little girl who acted as if hugging him was a completely normal thing to do to a stranger was the same lunatic who'd murdered who knows how many dozens of people of who knows how many worlds. The child who always acted so innocent, as if nothing in the world was bad, was the same as the alien who saw no moral wrong with killing.

He almost questioned why she'd attacked Mea first before him, but the more he thought about it, the more he understood that that was Tsubaki in a nutshell. She liked to play with her prey before going in for the kill.

She hadn't exactly been hesitant to save him for last when she wiped out his family.

And he thought Darkness was nuts. This just took the cake.

He shouted out as he felt himself slip down Darkness's legs, and gripped tighter, realizing that she'd sped up. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. The revelation could wait, right now, he had a more immediate issue to deal with.

Namely, how to stop Darkness from fighting Camellia and destroying the planet in the process.

He pushed back all thoughts of Camellia and Tsubaki and Mea and focused on the problem at hand. He tried to think about the factors he could use to stop Darkness.

It was difficult to do so without actually looking up at her, and it didn't help that the wind was constantly slapping the hem of her battle dress into his face.

What did he already know about Darkness? _Well, for one, she's not sane. She's driven by a singular desire, and nothing else matters. Right now, her desire is to kill Camellia, or Tsubaki, or whatever I can call her now._

He bit his lip. _I can't fight her directly, that's suicide for anyone but Lala, and she's probably still unconscious back at the house. And I probably can't reason with her, since she said herself that I can't get through to her…_

He glanced up at her, before looking down quickly after realizing his mistake. _Wait...hold on. I forgot to analyze her normally. What does she usually do? Anything can help…_

He blinked, and his mouth opened in an O. "If this works, I'm a genius." he said quietly, too quietly to hear over the wind.

"Yami!" he yelled over the wind.

"Get off me!" Darkness replied, flapping her wings again to create a small speed boost, but he held on. He was NOT going to die now, crushed to death hitting the ground. What a stupid end for someone who had a goal as lofty as his.

"Your current desire is to kill Tsubaki, right?" he asked, ignoring her irritation.

"Of course it is! That's what you want, isn't it? I'm going to end her, and fulfill the game you set in motion!" she shouted, with a clear tone of pride in her voice, and he didn't have to be looking at her to be certain that she was grinning.

"And then what? You'll try to destroy the world like you did the times before?" he asked her, forcing himself to remain calm. He couldn't do this if he let his emotion run wild, he knew.

Darkness growled. "Why does everyone think that just because I have a LITTLE problem with my inhibition, that I suddenly am some kind of maniac?" she whined, proving her own comment in her tone. "I just want to destroy a planet or two, is that so bad?"

Well, that was disturbing, but he had to press on if this was going to work. "I know you, Yami." he said in a low voice, though he couldn't go too low or the wind would blow it away. "That isn't your greatest desire, isn't it?"

Darkness scoffed. "You think you know me, but I'll indulge you. What do you think my 'true' desire is?" she asked, laughing after she'd done so.

Hiro smiled, looking down at the rapidly moving ground. Where the heck was she going anyway?

"It's obvious, if you've ever paid attention to your own actions." he said.

"Just tell me, don't act like I should know!" Darkness yelled in annoyance, and Hiro felt a shift in the air current. They were dropping. Was her resolve starting to waver? It couldn't possibly be that easy, could it? He was expecting to have needed a lot more time than this.

"Look into yourself and see if you can find it. I would prefer not to have to be the kind of protagonist who has to tell everybody some inspirational speech."

"I don't know, all of my thoughts from before I transform are always hidden!" Darkness shouted. "Just tell me directly, you stupid hero!"


	36. Yami's Deepest Desire

They were definitely dropping. Hiro could feel the change in the direction of the wind as the Trans carrying him aimed towards the roof of a building.

Hiro had no desire to stay stuck to her legs any longer than he had to, and was thankful when he was finally able to let go and drop down to the roof. She alighted a few feet farther down, after taking some time to properly land.

 _Thank you for not just abandoning me when you had the chance…_ Hiro thought as her wings vanished into her back, their purpose spent.

She turned to face him, a glare on her face, and while it made her look almost adorable in her short, more aerodynamic state, the intent behind those eyes only served to intimidate him.

"Alright, Nakamura-san." she said with a tone of annoyance, though it was laced with something else Hiro couldn't read very well. "You seem to think you know me very well, so tell me. What is this that you claim to be my true desire?"

He couldn't tell if she was just asking out of frustration or out of genuine curiosity. He was silent for several seconds while he tried to figure out which was true.

Darkness took his silence as a negative. "So, you don't know." she said, grinning. "Well, if you're done wasting my time-"

"Protection." Hiro said softly, in as calm and flat a voice as he could.

Darkness blinked and stared at him. "What?" she asked. "What do you mean?"

Hiro sighed, shaking his head. _Screw this trying to plan a response, time to go full cliche and speak from the heart. Guess that it's unavoidable for me to become a basic shonen protagonist._

"I do know you, Yami." he started. "I know what you're like. You're shy and awkward around people, regardless of their planet of origin. You like sweet foods and hate perverted people. I've seen you open up whenever you're around me, like your thoughts click into place. I've seen both sides of your spectrum, the introverted Trans that the other students see and the playful girl that you are at home. Yes, I do know you, Yami, and if what you say about Darkness is true, I know you better than you know yourself."

Darkness was silent as she listened, and burst out in laughter after he'd finished. "Oh, that's great! It's as if you really know what you're talking about!" she said happily, clapping her hands together in a way that clearly was meant to be threatening. "But you didn't answer my question. How does any of that have to do with me wanting to protect? I see nothing I want to protect on this world."

Hiro bit his lip, before shaking his head. "You told me you wanted to be my 'guardian angel of darkness'." he said. "You said you'd be there to keep me safe, whether I wanted you around or not. You said I needed you to protect me, because I'm a stupid hero and would probably get myself killed if you weren't there to protect me from people like you. That's what I mean by protection, Yami. Your greatest, your deepest desire is not to kill. It's to protect those you consider your friends."

 _Hopefully that at least did SOMETHING, because I probably sound like a conceited bastard for using her relationship with me to convince her._ he thought to himself after he finished.

Another silence, this time, longer than the last. No laughter escaped the girl's mouth. She simply stood still, looking at him, hair and dress blowing slightly in the wind at the top of the building.

Another few seconds, and Darkness sighed, all trace of the laughing gone from her expression.

"You know, you're not half bad, Nakamura Hiro." she said quietly, looking directly into his eyes. "You're quite good at convincing people when you want your way."

Hiro blinked. "Does that mean-" he was about to say, before he was cut off by Darkness raising her hand.

"Shut up and let me finish." she said. "As I was saying, you've convinced me. Kudos to you for managing to do it this quickly, when it took Yuuki Rito hours before he could pluck up the courage to do what needed to be done to revert me last time."

"So does that mean you'll-"

"Quiet!" she snapped. "I want to say something before I revert back to normal. When I'm in my regular mode, as you know, I am quite shy, and even to you I hide many things. But in this mode, my inhibitions are destabilized and I tend to do and say things I otherwise wouldn't. I will remember everything, but I want to remember what I'm going to say anyway."

Hiro was silent, not wanting to interrupt again, and she nodded, continuing.

"Right. I don't have much time left. Just know that my wish to protect you...it's more than just the desire to protect. It's the desire to know what it's like to love someone."

Hiro stared at the girl in front of him, unsure how to respond to her words. He was by no means an idiot, quite the opposite, he knew exactly what she meant by what she said.

But that was the problem. That he knew what she meant made this far more awkward than it already had been.

First Yukihime and now Yami. He didn't know how to react, and he knew that he couldn't just ask her to explain, staring at her even as she began reverting back to normal…

...He was broken out of his thoughts by a ripping sound, and a blush crept across Yami's face, now back to normal.

He would have looked down, but he was afraid what the rip signified, remembering that this iteration of Darkness had been shorter and less endowed than the regular form, and her clothes had changed to match.

It seems that they don't go vice versa.

They both stood still, silently staring into each other's eyes, neither wanting to point out the elephant in the room.

Yami was the first to react, slowly sitting down on her knees, doing her best to cover the large rip down the front of her battle dress with her hands.

She glared at Hiro, though it was somewhat diluted by the tomato of her cheeks as a result of both the situation now and the words she'd said before reverting.

"Isn't a gentleman supposed to offer his shirt to a woman who's lost her clothing?" she asked flatly, trying and failing to hide the embarrassment in her voice.

Hiro blinked, then glanced away from her, tapping his chin with his finger. "I don't really want to lose another shirt, but I guess…"

Two minutes later, Hiro was sitting cross-legged, sans shirt, and Yami was attempting to fit it over her. Her arms were slender enough that she could get them into the sleeves easily, but unlike Nemesis, who lacked the most obvious 'quality' of most grown females, couldn't fit the shirt all the way over her chest.

Who knew that she was larger than she looked? That battle dress must be pretty tight-fitting for her to hide that much. Hiro wasn't very big in terms of muscle mass, and his shirt was sized to match.

"..." Yami stared disappointedly at the shirt, before finally successfully pulling it over her body, over the rip in her dress. It didn't look like the most elegant of costume choice, with the odd cape of the dress sticking out from a shirt with the words "Asobi ni iku yo" and a nekomimi on it, but hey, it was better than shedding the dress altogether.

"You can turn around now, Nakamura-san." Yami said, now back to her normal voice, though her embarrassment was still clear in her tone.

Hiro nodded, shifting in his seat to look at her. "This feels...pretty familiar." he said, tilting his head. "Like the more realistic version of when I took Nemesis home after she was healed."

Yami looked down, the rooftop they were sitting on suddenly quite interesting. "You mean...that shirt she always flaunts around with the big stain on it? I remember that she told me about that…"

Hiro nodded, looking at the sky. "So...how are we going to get down now? I doubt you want me riding your legs again."

"...Of course not. And I doubt anyone will be finding us any time soon, considering the fact that Darkness put so much pressure on them that it's unlikely that any of them will wake up any time soon."

Hiro looked down. "I hope they're alright…" he said, a sudden sadness creeping into his voice as he remembered what had happened to the poor third Trans. "But Mea's…"

Yami sighed. "She was annoying, but it was nice having her around. She didn't deserve to become a victim of Tsubaki's wrath."

Hearing Yami speak like that didn't help Hiro's mood at all. He knew that she never spoke definitively unless she was absolutely certain of something. Hearing her talk about Mea in past tense only confirmed his fears.

Well, his fears were only a small part of his thoughts now. He looked over at Yami, and she looked back, cringing and looking away from his eyes at the intense glare he now had.

"You already know what I'm about to say, don't you?" he asked. When Yami nodded, he nodded back, his mouth curling into a frown. "She's killed too many people. Tsubaki will pay."


	37. Mea's Funeral

Hiro and his group stood silently in the Sainan graveyard, no one wanting to speak as the casket holding the body of Kurosaki Mea was lowered by two adults Hiro vaguely recognized as staff members at Sainan High.

He had half-expected it to be pouring rain during the entire ceremony, but it was bright out. Not a cloud in the sky, as if Mea's cheerful personality had extended to the world itself.

He hated it. It was too bright, too blinding for his eyes. The sun was an idiot for being so happy. How could any sane person be positive when they were watching the unmoving body of the most optimistic person on the planet being lowered into the ground?

The sun sickened him. He had never been a very happy person, especially not with the events happening since late December, but this...He had thought he could tolerate quite a lot, but clearly, he had been wrong. This was too much even for him.

He hated the sun. Let it rain, let it pour. Because if it was raining, he would have had an excuse for the water streaming down his face.

He hated himself for his own weakness, hated that he had failed to keep his promise to never cry. But he had always known that, if he had to ever attend another funeral for someone close to him, he wouldn't be able to hold back.

It just brought up too many painful memories. Hiro didn't see Mea being buried, he saw his parents, as vivid as if it had happened yesterday and not seven years before.

He grit his teeth, the _other_ primary emotion he'd felt back then also rising to the surface. Yami, who stood next to him on his right side, glanced at him, sensing the shift in his emotion from the light touch of her fingers to the palm of his hand.

Nemesis, standing on his other side, didn't seem to notice, too preoccupied in her own thoughts as she watched the body being lowered, one side handled by Mikado-sensei and the other by Tearju-sensei, who was already red-faced with tears. The poor blonde had never been good with keeping herself together, this had to be breaking her heart, and Hiro couldn't find a way to criticize her for it. She deserved to cry, at least this once.

"This is her fault." Hiro said quietly, under his breath, though it was loud enough for the girls to either side to hear. "Tsubaki will not get away with this. She made a mistake doing this to Mea. She made a mistake coming back from whatever hole she was hiding in."

BREAKBREAKBREAK

A beeping sound came from one of the monitors in front of the man, and he woke up from the nap he'd been taking, removing his head from the hand that had been propping it up.

He scooted the throne-like chair he sat in forward so that he could reach the screen with the annoyingly stubby fingers he had. It irritated him to no end how short he was, but he could do nothing about it.

He groggily pressed a button on the screen, still only barely awake from his rest, and when he saw the face of the person who'd directly called him, he grinned and leaned back in his chair.

"Well, well, well." he said, suddenly very alert. "It's not every day that I get a direct report from you, Abbadon."

The girl barely reacted to the codename, used to being referred by the man and his subordinates under it, as her real name was a secret even to the other project members.

"I decided that a secondary report was not enough to tell you of the new developments." she said, in a voice filled with a barely-controlled stutter, but honestly, who wouldn't be nervous around this man?

The man blinked, tilting his head as he looked at her. "What could possibly be big enough that you can't just file a report like you always do?" he asked. He didn't show it, but he was genuinely concerned about the situation. For Abbadon to speak with him directly meant that something major had happened, and considering the already-delicate balance of the project…

"Tsubaki made her first move, and Kurosaki Mea was killed as a result." she said, her voice dropping low, a note of sadness in her voice. The poor girl wasn't exactly the most emotionally-controlled of people, but that was exactly why the man had chosen her to be his representative. She knew what it was to act normal.

But even then, her top priority was the project. She was the perfect spy. "The project is a failure, sir. Without Mea, it cannot continue in a complete state."

The man sighed, rapping his fingers across his temples as he thought. "That's...quite a blow to our goals." he finally said, sighing. "Mea was integral to the next stage…But we cannot accept defeat. One rogue alien will not be the downfall of the project I've dedicated so much time and resources to. What is Yami's status?"

"She activated Darkness after the attack, but was unable to kill Tsubaki."

The man grinned. "Well, then in that case, do not interfere. Hiro may be able to salvage this yet."

BREAKBREAKBREAK

It didn't feel natural to Hiro, being back in school after all that had happened the last few days. He'd told Principal Dunois that he'd be out for a while, and she seemed to understand, and something in the way she'd spoken when she accepted his checking out made him wonder. How much did she actually know of the behind-the-scenes of the aliens at the school? It was obvious she was well aware of most of the aliens at the school, being the principal, after all, but it seemed like she even knew about Nemesis's identity…

Well, no matter. She had made no move to tell anyone about Nemesis, and he had a feeling she'd let it remain a secret even if she did know, so there was no reason to worry, so he purged the thought from his mind and tried to focus on Saero-sensei's lesson.

It was hard to focus. He had a lot on his mind, trying to sort out everything that had happened while he was gone, and he had lost a lot of sleep over Mea's death. It had hit him harder than he thought it had, and he bet he looked like death to anyone looking at him.

It didn't help that Yami was especially close to him, now literally sharing his seat with him. To anyone watching, it would be clear that they had become somewhat closer than before he'd left the school, though neither gave an explanation for what had happened.

The kid who sat next to Hiro looked at him, and gave a perfect example of Murphy's Law.

"Yo, Nakamura-san." he said. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I heard an explosion a couple days ago and your house went up in smoke."

Hiro and Yami, and across the room, Yukihime and Nemesis, all stiffened at the statement, and Hiro turned his head to stare at the kid.

"How did you know about that?" he asked. The kid made an exasperated sound, raising a hand in a shrug.

"I'm Okamoto Rin. The guy who lives in the house next to yours? Who you had to ask about the Darkness incident since you weren't there that day?"

Hiro blinked, not recognizing him, before nodding in understanding. "Oh, yeah, I remember you…"

Okamoto sighed, faking a hurt expression. "Am I that forgettable? I thought we were sort of friends…" he said.

"Nakamura-kun, your house exploded?" came the quiet voice of the easily-forgotten girl sitting behind Hiro, and he blinked, turning around.

"Ehh...kind of, yeah...It's not actually as bad as it sounds, Yami just kind of made a mess of the kitchen." Hiro said, after hesitating while he thought up a reasonable excuse.

"Hey, I was just trying to help out! How was I supposed to know modern appliances and Trance don't mix?!" Yami retorted, with the same calculated response that he'd had.

Okamoto blinked, tilting his head, and gave up trying to get an explanation, returning to watching the blackboard. Haruhi, on the other hand, just continued looking at Hiro, or at least, looking in his general direction, though she avoided direct eye contact as usual.

"I bet you're a good chef after living alone for such a long time." she said, slowly, as if she was afraid of him reacting as he had to Yukihime when she'd referenced the same thing. "You could teach her."

Hiro and Yami glanced at each other, and Hiro nervously laughed, a drop of sweat forming on his forehead. "I don't think that's a very good idea…" he said hesitantly.

"Yeah, stuff tends to explode when I try to do it…" Yami added. "I'm even worse than Nemesis at it…"

"Hey, I heard that!" came the indignant call from the petite girl across the room.

"Excuse me, but if I may continue the class…" Saero-sensei said, catching the students' attention once again.

Hiro felt bad for the teacher. He had to deal with all these students blatantly ignoring his lessons, himself included, and the stress of it made him look a lot older than he really was.

Well, he knew that the adult had a lot less issues than some of the students here. He knew it was no excuse for taking over the class time to talk about it, but he doubted that the man was surrounded in aliens and having problems as massive as Darkness manifesting again.

Hiro sighed to himself. At least Yami had enough sense not to reveal that particular event. He had no idea how the school would react to learning that the entity that had caused so much trouble the June before had appeared again, even if there had been no direct casualties and the issue had been quickly solved. That would be a nightmare for sure.


	38. Naming Darkness

It was odd, being back on the rooftop with the two remaining Trans, as if nothing had changed. Class had gone by smoothly after they'd managed to defuse the situation with Okamoto, too smoothly for Hiro's tastes. It was too strange for him, having gotten used to the haphazard schedules branching off of the recently quite large traffic in his house.

It wasn't just the fixed schedule that felt strange to him. It wa the feeling of security being at school tended to give. It was almost enough to purge thoughts of Camellia, or Tsubaki, or Mea, from his mind.

Almost enough. It didn't quite manage to clear away the overwhelming sense of loss he felt when he thought about it. He didn't know what part was the most painful. Tsubaki's return, Yami having lost control, Mea's death, or the horrible memories that had been dredged up as a result of the attack.

Yami leaned closer to him, as if she sensed the turmoil going on inside him. She had a knack for that, despite not being as close to his heart as Nemesis was. It was almost scary how easily Yami could read him, when normally she acted so clueless as to other people's emotions.

"Hiro-nii, Yami, I was just thinking of something." Nemesis said suddenly, and Hiro looked up from the noodles he was currently fishing out from his bento box. Yami, as usual, had insisted that Hiro not make her anything, so she went without lunch again. He could never understand why she insisted on refusing it every day. Nemesis was happy to accept and he knew Yami liked his cooking, if her reactions whenever she had dinner at the house were anything to judge from.

Anyway, cooking aside, Nemesis had his attention right now. "What?" he asked, and Yami remained silent.

Nemesis nodded, holding her chopsticks pointing away from her to enunciate her speech. "Well, remember how Haruhi was talking about teaching Yami how to cook? And how Yami said it would turn out even worse than my sucky skills?"

"What does my culinary ability have to do with anything?" Yami asked in the flat tone she often carefully cultivated. Hiro knew her well enough to know that she wasn't offended in the least, as Nemesis and she often traded blows and both knew that she wasn't exactly the _best_ cook.

Hiro grimaced as he remembered the last time she'd tried to make a meal for them. Nemesis probably only was able to keep it down because she had a stomach like iron, but he was less lucky. He'd had to stay home for several days while his stomach tried not to dissolve itself.

"Well, I know this sounds like a stretch, but we might be able to apply what she suggested to help with fighting Tsubaki." Nemesis said. "It's just a thought."

Hiro blinked, staring at her. "How in the world would teaching her how to-"

"Not cooking, training!" Nemesis interrupted, excitement creeping into her voice. "Remember, she ended up activating Darkness again, but you were able to revert her pretty quickly. So why not try to teach her how to do it again, but this time with more control?"

Yami cringed at the memory, before a light blush crept onto her face as she remembered the method Hiro had used to fix the issue, and the situation after she'd gone back to normal.

Hiro's face was more stony as he listened to her, and he was the first to respond. "I don't think Yami would want to do that again, and besides, Darkness is always unique to whatever her main desire is at the time. I can't guarantee that I'd be able to stop her again."

"Yeah…" Yami said. "And Darkness...is less likely to hide things, and there's things I'd rather not have revealed even to you…" she said quietly, shifting uncomfortably in her spot next to Hiro. "Last time she revealed something I didn't really want to be known yet, and I don't know what else she might want to say…"

Nemesis grinned teasingly. "Oh, does little anti-ecchi Yami have a side of her she doesn't want Hiro to see?" she asked, grin widening. Yami's blush deepened, and Hiro sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Not everyone is as open as you are, Nemesis." he said. "Everyone has their secrets. I know _you_ wouldn't understand because you and I can't really block each other out anymore, but I still get it. I'm not about to force Yami to potentially reveal some secret she doesn't want known."

"Nakamura-san, you're too considerate sometimes." Yami said, though her tone suggested how grateful she was that he agreed with her wishes.

Nemesis simply laughed, before her face changed to a far more serious expression. "You're too soft, Hiro." she said. "Being so generous and understanding all the time isn't going to cut it anymore. Tsubaki's basically declared war, and we need every resource we've got. Letting Yami get away with hiding potential secrets means ignoring the possibility of an ally as powerful as Darkness. I can see it in your thoughts, you know exactly how dangerous Tsubaki really is. If your 'Tsubaki's Game' plan is going to work, you need as much help as you can get." She looked at Yami. "You know it as well as I do. We both want the same goal, for Hiro to get his wish, and our personal feelings don't play into the equation."

"I still think it's too dangerous." Hiro said, crossing his arms. "Even if it's possible to 'control' Darkness, there's no guarantee any of us, least of all Yami herself, could do it. You saw what happened when she got out the last few times. Imagine what would happen if nobody was able to stop her the next time."

"Nakamura-san is right, Nemesis." Yami stated, doing her best to keep a flat voice. She didn't feel any sadness or any other negative emotion at being basically called weak by her self-imposed charge, but she didn't have to like it either. "And you have personally seen me when I first changed as well. Surely you of all people know that Darkness is not to be trusted."

Nemesis sighed, shaking her head. "You can't constantly be afraid of your abilities, Yami. Remember that I've done extensive research on you and your history, in preparation for activating the second-"

"This is really confusing." Hiro interrupted, and the two Trans looked at him. "We need to come up with a better way to name the Darkness forms. Calling them by specific names would be much easier."

Yami tilted her head. "I don't think they care if they have a name." she said, but Nemesis clapped her hands and grinned.

"Okay! What should we call them? I bet you've already thought of something, knowing you." she said, laughing.

Hiro blinked, before tapping his chin in thought. "Hmm...What about Crusader for the original, Demon for Rito's version, and Crow for the most recent one." he said, after several seconds of thought.

"Do those names mean anything?" Yami asked, not confirming or denying the honestly random-sounding names.

Hiro shrugged. "You know me, I'm not exactly the best at making arbitrary decisions. Far as I know there's no meaning."

Yami was silent as she thought, before nodding. "Then we will refer to them as Crusader, Demon, and Crow respectively." she said.

Nemesis smiled. "That'll be so much-" she was about to say, before Yami glared at her.

"I didn't get to finish, Nemesis." she said calmly, before turning back to Hiro. "All of my forms are still Konjiki no Yami, so refer to this me, the one who is not affected by Darkness, by the name of…" She looked down at the ground, shifting in her position, before quietly whispering something.

"What was that?" Hiro asked. He saw nothing wrong with her wanting a different name normally, though it was a little odd for her to request anything, much less a name change from the one she'd always used.

Yami looked at him, a small blush playing on her face. "Call me Eve." she said nervously.

Once again, Hiro was confused. It sounded alright, though he had no clue why she would be so flustered over the name. Nemesis simply grinned knowingly, though her face clearly showed that she'd offer no explanation.

"Why?" he asked the girl, tilting his head. "Knowing you, there's some special meaning to that name."

Yami nodded. "It's...my, um…" She shook her head in an attempt to clear her thoughts, but the embarrassment was still obvious on her face. "It's my real name."

Hiro blinked. "Your real name?" That was odd, he'd never actually thought about her real name...He'd always referred to her as Yami, and just assumed "Golden Darkness" was the name she'd been given at birth.

Now that he thought about it, that was kind of a stupid line of thought. Obviously she had a real name, and there were rumors circulating around the school that she and Tearju-sensei were related somehow.

Yami nodded. "My real name is Eve Lunatique." she stated, now sounding a bit more confident now that she'd already said her first name. "...Don't tell anyone else, okay? I already knew that Nemesis knew it, and the only other living people who do are Tear and Yuuki Rito."

 _Well, of course Yuuki-senpai knows it, I'd be surprised if she didn't tell him, what with how she saw him back then._ Hiro thought, before nodding to her.

"Of course I won't tell." he said. "Promise, and when I make a promise, I keep it." he added, grinning.

Yami smiled back awkwardly, before nodding. "Thank you, Nakamura-san."


	39. Co-Conspirators

Hiro had promised that he would help Yami...No, Eve...learn to control her Darkness, but as he sat in class, the blonde Trans on the floor as she usually was, he was at a complete loss for what to do.

He'd been confident that he'd think of something, but he knew that he was not as good at spur-of-the-moment planning as Yuuki-senpai was. If anything, it was difficult for him to adjust at all once he'd come up with something, so that meant that he'd have to spend some time coming up with something that would account for potential errors.

He sighed to himself, only barely paying attention to what Saero-sensei was talking about. To be fair, school was secondary in his mind to his ultimate goal of destroying Tsubaki.

He knew that having Darkness on his side would be a massive boon to Tsubaki's Game's success. He had no doubt that she had the most raw power of anyone he knew, and that combined with the normal Yami's high intelligence meant that she was definitely a goal worth working towards.

But he had no idea how to get to that goal. There were just too many factors that he couldn't see solutions for. Yami's mental state. Darkness's appearance change. The desires Yami has and what might become Darkness's primary directive. Darkness's single-minded drive to one goal.

It wouldn't be such a problem if not for the activation criteria. So far, the only things that have caused Darkness to come out were catalysts that crushed down on her mental state and broke her spirit. All of those had lead to Darkness becoming a malevolent entity. So what catalyst could there possibly be that would bypass that and lead to a more positive change?

Hiro glanced at the subject of his thoughts, who was currently staring at the spot on the floor in front of her. He sighed and shook his head.

 _This is too problematic._ he thought to himself. _There has to be some way to do this without the risk of her going wild again. I can't let Crow…_

He blinked, and his mouth opened in realization. _Hang on...maybe there's no reason to worry about it at all. There might be a way to do this even if it's just Crow appearing again…_

 _But even if that works...what can we possibly do to revert her BACK to her normal form without risking her going wild again? Decisions, decisions…_

He looked at her again before focusing back on the board. _I'll tell her and the others when we get back home...I'll have to ask Momo what she thinks of my idea before I do anything though. And I really hope Yami understands where I'm aiming for when she hears it…_

He chuckled quietly to himself. He had no guarantee that it would work, and his entire idea hinged on Nemesis and Momo's cooperation, and while he was confident in Nemesis after how much he'd had her in his head, he wasn't entirely sure how helpful Momo would be.

And that left the others, who he didn't have an idea for. Hopefully Momo would have a few contingencies in place in case something goes wrong.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

Camellia leaned on the wall of the woman's house, panting heavily as she attempted to catch her breath. She'd only barely escaped Yami's attack, fleeing from the sound of the explosion signifying her transformation.

"You...You monster." she said to herself, staring wide-eyed at the wall in disbelief at what she'd witnessed then. "What exactly _are_ you, Konjiki no Yami?"

She had thought she'd researched Mr. Pointy-Teeth's little creations extensively. She'd thought she knew everything there was to know about them, especially about that one.

The girl known throughout the universe as the most dangerous assassin in history. She had heard rumors that she had some other superpowered form, but she'd dismissed them as half-truths and exaggerations.

Now that she'd witnessed it first hand, she realized that everything she'd heard was real. Yami had a demon inside her, something that Camellia knew she would never stand a chance against.

She had lived a long time and been in many forms. She'd been both the one to feel the knife and the one to wield it. But she had never, EVER felt how she did when she witnessed Darkness's manifestation.

She had never experienced true fear until that moment.

She was immortal. She knew that even if her host was blasted into smithereens that she would survive. She simply would move on to another body. But the thought of being on the receiving end of such an obviously powerful entity unsettled her to no end.

She had killed so many people in so many worlds, and been known by so many names. And now, she was cursing the name she had used in her last body for her mistake in failing to kill Hiro.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

Back home, Hiro glanced over at Yami, who was following him as closely as she ever did. Nemesis was more lenient on him, hanging back before heading off to the couch.

"Yam-" he was about to say, before shaking his head. "Eve."

Yami blushed and looked down at the name, still not used to being called it, and Hiro smiled. For someone who was an assassin as long as she was, she was very good at not looking threatening in the slightest.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts. Yami acted downright adorable quite often these days, he had to admit it, but he still hadn't decided how to answer the question she'd asked what felt like months ago. He still wasn't sure how he truly felt about her.

Or about anyone, for that matter. Nemesis was a different story now that they were partnered together through her ability, and he'd long ago accepted that she was trustworthy, or he obviously wouldn't have allowed her to invade his brain all the time.

"Eve." he repeated. "I think I have a plan for helping you get Darkness under control, but I don't think it'll work if I tell you what it is."

Yami was silent for only a brief moment before nodding. "I trust that you know what you are doing." she said, before a light smile played on her face. "Though you _are_ a stupid hero."

Hiro laughed and nodded. "That I am. We'll have to wait until Momo inevitably shows up, I want to run it by her before trying anything. She may be the most devious alien in existence, but I have to admit her plans usually work, so she'll probably have advice for me. Plus, we'll need her if Darkness tries to go berserk again."

Yami thought for a few seconds, before nodding. "That sounds like a good idea. But there really is no way of knowing when she'd come. Why don't you just call her?" she asked.

"I don't have her phone number. I have Yuuki-senpai's, but I doubt she's with him right now." Hiro explained.

"That is a reasonable excuse."

Nemesis raised a hand. "I have it!" she called to them, before fishing out the phone Hiro had given her during her first few weeks of living with him.

It was an old clunky flip phone, one that Hiro had bought for just a few hundred yen and given her as a joke, but she seemed to love it. She'd even refused when he tried to upgrade her to an actual smartphone. Something about her loving primitive human technology or something like that. It didn't really matter to Hiro, and it meant he spent a lot less on her, so he let her keep it.

The phone didn't have contact list capabilities, but evidently, Nemesis had a perfect memory and could remember anyone's number on command. Hiro thought it was kind of creepy, since that made her basically a walking computer herself.

"Okay, can you call her and tell her I wanted to talk to her?" Hiro asked, and Nemesis nodded, starting to type in the ancient phone. "Tell her I wanted to run an idea by her on Darkness."

Nemesis nodded, and within minutes of her calling, Momo was already at the door.

Hiro chuckled. "Quick as ever, I see." he said as he opened the door to let her in. "Yami, can you go somewhere while we talk about the plan?" he asked, careful not to use 'Eve', since he knew Momo didn't know her name yet.

The Trans nodded and walked behind Momo, leaving the house and jumping up into the sky as she often did, heading who knows where.

Momo looked behind her and tilted her head, looking at Hiro. "Shouldn't she be here while we talk about it?" she asked, already having a fairly good feeling she knew what Hiro meant by a plan relating to Darkness.

Hiro shook his head. "I don't think my plan will work if she knows what to expect. Darkness is activated with a psychological trigger, so telling her my idea for drawing it out would mean she's too prepared for it. It would make it much harder to activate."

Momo nodded. "I suppose that makes sense..." she said, holding her chin with her index finger. "Alright, tell me this plan. The worst that can happen is I'll see some stuff that just can't work out."

She glanced at Nemesis. "And is Nemesis involved with this? Is anyone else?" she asked.

Hiro nodded. "Nemesis, you're going to be a part of this too, but no, nobody else will be involved, except maybe as backup in case something goes wrong."

Nemesis waved. "Hai-hai, I'm with you, whatever it is!"

Hiro laughed, and nodded, inhaling, before starting to explain his plan.


	40. The Cage and the Keys

_If this actually works, then I am a freaking genius._ Hiro thought to himself, standing outside facing Yami. Nemesis was next to him, as she usually was, and Momo was sitting on the stump that acted as the designated seat during training out here. No one had given Yami an explanation as to why she was there, but the Trans didn't seem to mind.

She trusted Hiro's judgement, and they all knew it. The girl was willing to almost blindly follow everything he said and did, regardless of the potential outcomes.

Good, that made it so much easier to execute his plan, the oh-so-secret idea he'd forbidden her from hearing. She would have to find out while he executed it.

But first things first, Hiro had some things to say before they started. There was no reason to jump straight into it now, not with such a large amount of risk with what they were going to try to do, and he wanted to talk to her before they did anything.

"Yami." he said, careful not to call her 'Eve'. Momo still didn't know about that, he had chosen to respect the blonde's wishes and keep it hidden until she wanted it to be known.

The Trans nodded, looking straight at him with a determined look on her face. She was clearly worried, as she knew exactly how dangerous Darkness was, but she knew that the person who called her his 'guardian angel of darkness' knew what he was doing. "Yes?" she asked calmly, blinking as she did so.

"How exactly did you...feel? About Mea?" he asked, and her body visibly stiffened. "I mean, before her death. How did you see her?"

Yami was silent for several seconds, a frown appearing on her previously flat face. "Mea…" she said thoughtfully. "I saw her as my annoying, but dependable, little sibling, just as she saw me as her older sister. Mea was too innocent for her own good." She was quiet for a few seconds, and a sad smile played on her face. "Well, innocent in most regards, her perversion could have contended with Momo's."

Hiro smiled at her response, and Nemesis shifted where she stood, though her expression was unreadable. "So you saw her as a sister?" he asked, and his smile dropped, not quite a frown but with a definite air of sadness to his features. "You know, I know the feeling of losing a sister to Tsubaki."

Yami looked at him, a surprised expression on her face. "You...had a sister?" she asked, shocked. Hiro nodded.

"Yes, I did. Nakamura Mirai. She was a year old when Tsubaki attacked." He looked down. "She was her first victim, it was like she knew exactly where she was." he said sadly.

Yami stared, and when she blinked, there was an obvious line of moisture at the cusp of her bottom eyelid. "Why...are you asking me this? What does Mea and...your sister...have to do with Darkness?"

Hiro sighed, but didn't answer. "How close were you with Mea? I know you were both around me pretty often, but you never really gave any indication of how close you two were."

"I...wasn't that close to her, but she was a good friend…" she replied, not understanding why Hiro was refusing to answer her question. "But...why does this matter?"

Hiro nodded. "I suppose it was for the better that you weren't that close…" he said, and Yami's shocked expression made it obvious how she felt about the surprisingly cold comment coming from Nemesis's partner. "When Tsubaki attacked my family, seeing Mirai dead was the first and greatest blow to my soul that day. She was just a baby after all, the picture of innocence. Mea was the same way, wasn't she? And both times, Tsubaki chose them as her victim..."

Yami gritted her teeth, anger flashing across her red eyes. "You're absolutely right in how you see her. Tsubaki deserves to burn in a pit of fire for eternity for what she did to them." She was by now trembling, whether from anger or sadness or both was anyone's guess.

Hiro nodded, and grinned. "You're absolutely right, Tsubaki is going to be wiped clean from this universe." he said, stepping forward. "Because she killed our family. She killed Mirai and she killed Mea, and they were only two of hundreds. She plans to kill more, including me."

By now, the girl has graduated from trembling to full-on shaking, hands clenched in rage. Her eyes started to flicker, switching between her normal color and a dull red, toneless and drab.

It was obvious that now, she was on the edge between Eve and Crow, the gravity of the area around her beginning to start to weigh down on Hiro.

Hiro smiled, speaking softly. "Good, that's exactly what we want." he said. "Momo, Nemesis, your turn!"

Yami screamed as she suddenly found herself entangled in a mess of vines summoned from the Devilukean's D-Dial. Her scream was quickly stopped as Nemesis vanished, swamping the other Trans's mind with her Trans-Fusion.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

Eve opened her eyes, and was taken aback by what she saw. Or rather, what she didn't see. It was dark, and empty, and she shivered despite there being no breeze blowing through the place.

She looked down at herself, and jumped when she saw her appearance, reflected on the ground through some unknown means.

She looked as she had long ago, when she was still a child, when she still considered Tearju a mother. A time when she had been weak, when she'd used her Trance for trivial tasks like holding her silverware.

She remembered how much she'd hated that version of herself, for being too weak to stop the Eden people from forcing Tearju to leave and for taking control of her. Even now, while she was far more at peace with herself than before and could think more clearly about herself, she still wished she could change that time.

But the past was the past, and right now, she was more worried about where she was right now. She looked up and called out into the darkness. "Where am I? What is this place?"

Even her voice was childlike. It was as if she'd regressed.

She heard a chuckle, which quickly evolved into a laugh, loud and insane, and a figure materialized in front of her. As it did, metal bars formed all around her, but the figure remained outside, and within seconds, she was inside a cage, one that she somehow knew she wouldn't be able to break even with her Trance blades.

She couldn't worry too much about the cage yet, however. Right now, she was more worried about the other being in this weird world.

The figure continued laughing for several moments, for an amount of time that she couldn't determine. "Ah, Eve." the figure said, still cast in shadows, hiding its form from her view, all that showed its bright red eyes. "Look at you. You've been letting me out so often recently...Are you starting to like being in there?" it asked, raising a hand, a metal band with two keys loosely hanging off one finger. "Honestly, look. You've even given me your only set of keys again!"

Eve stared, biting her lip as she tried to see the person. She didn't know who it was, but she knew that she should fear it. Whatever it was, it was more powerful than she was. After all, it was the one outside the cage, right?

"W-Who are you? Where are we?" she asked nervously, still shivering, though now she realized that it was from fear rather than cold. She didn't like to admit it, but this place, and this person, terrified her, though why she did not know.

The figure laughed again. "That hurts, Eve. Do you really not recognize me?" it asked, stepping forward, and its appearance came to the small region of the room that was lit.

Eve gasped as she finally saw it, standing just in front of the cage.

"You're...but...Where is…" Her mouth opened as she remembered what had happened just before this. "Where is...Hiro…"

The figure grinned, a mad smile that went from ear to ear. "So you remember! You remember that man, who was so kind as to get you angry enough to release me! You remember his betrayal!"

It lowered its head to face her, the mad grin in full play, distorting its features with its insanity. It was almost a carbon copy of her, as she was in the world outside this nightmarish one.

It didn't wear a shred of clothing, not even the regular battle dress Yami had on in most company. Eve was surprised at her reaction to this. She would have thought seeing her own naked body standing in front of her would be embarrassing, but she found it to feel perfectly normal, as if it was totally normal in this backwards world.

Its eyes were a dull red, but they still shined like gemstones, almost a source of light in this dark place. And when she saw its eyes, she finally realized what the being she was staring at truly was.

"You're...You're Darkness." she said, and it clapped its hands in excitement, jangling the keys as it did so.

"Ding, ding, ding, give the girl a prize!" it exclaimed. "Yes, I'm the Darkness Program inside of you. Thank you for handing these over to me twice in the space of a few days!"

Eve looked at the ground. This was bad. If this was her mind, as it seemed to be, and if this cage represented what she thought it did…

...That meant that Darkness had been released again. But why had it taken this form? Why had this world been created instead of the normal numb nothingness she normally experienced?


	41. Eve and Darkness

Darkness laughed at her silence. "I have to say, I understand why you try to seal me away all the time. That Hiro guy is something else. You've found yourself quite a catch since you shook off the other kid." it said, with a nod of approval. "Guy's even able to convince me to go back to my cage! If that isn't true strength, I don't know what is!"

Eve grit her teeth at the mention of her self-imposed charge. "Don't you dare do anything to hurt him." she hissed venomously, clenching her hand as if she was about to punch the alternate version of herself, though she knew this cage wouldn't yield if she tried to attack it.

Darkness suddenly stopped laughing, looking into the darkness around them with a confused expression. "Wait...Hold on...How is this happening?" it asked quietly, looking at her. "Eve, would you be so kind as to create a Trance blade? I want to test something."

Eve stated at the insane half of herself skeptically, before deciding that there really was no danger in doing it. She raised her arm as she usually did when creating her blades, and concentrated her power of the appendage.

Several seconds passed, and the arm remained as it was normally. No silver appeared, no flesh or bone converted into the odd steely Trance material.

She stared at the arm in surprise. Why hadn't it worked? Was this cage sapping her strength?

Darkness simply nodded, tapping its foot on the ground, producing a low echo across the empty area. "I thought so...Somehow, we are split apart entirely."

Eve looked at the being in confusion. "What did you do? Why can I not use my Trance? And we are not the same. You are just a disease implanted into my genetic sequence."

Darkness rolled its eyes and sighed. "Figures you'd totally ignore our true relationship, Eve. You always were the more reserved one. I bet you don't even know what your Trance actually IS."

Eve blinked, tilting her head. "What do you mean? My Trance is my ability to alter my body structure."

Darkness sighed and sat down cross-legged on the ground in front of the caged girl. "No, it isn't. It's MY ability to alter our body structure. It was not yours to begin with. It's just that our genetic code dictates that I give you some of me at all times."

"What are you talking about?" Eve asked, now curious about what her opposite had to say. She knew that the program was deranged, but she'd never known Darkness to lie. She shuddered in memory of the many things Darkness had done that she'd have rather NOT been brought to light.

She still didn't understand how Darkness knew these things that she herself didn't, but she'd have to trust her. And who knows, maybe it would score her the keys out of this cage.

Darkness smiled. "Finally, we can talk like reasonable people. You've never given me the time of day here, it's nice to see that you actually give a crap about half of your soul. It's been lonely, I've had nothing to do most of the time but dig around in our mind."

Eve sighed. "Just tell me. What is my Trance actually supposed to be?"

Darkness nodded. "Well, first of all, do you know of the concept of yin and yang?" she asked, and when Eve nodded, she continued. "Well, that is what we are. You are the yin, the spirit, and I am the yang, the power. We're both intertwined in this one body. You can't escape me and I can't escape you."

"I am well aware that we're stuck with each other, but how does that relate to my Trance?" Eve asked impatiently.

Darkness shook its head and sighed. "Calm down, I'm getting to that. As you are no doubt aware by now, you, I, as the Darkness Program, would become crazed and go rampant if I were not tied to you. In order to keep me from doing that, there is a built-in safety mechanism, so to speak. That mechanism is the singular desire I feel when I hold the keys. With it, there is a possibility of us swapping back to our usual places, with me in the cage and you with the keys. I don't really mind it, but I like being out, though you probably can guess that."

It inhaled deeply, not that it needed to in their mindscape, and continued. "You are the opposite. You, as Eve, are the spirit of this body, but you lack any power. You in your purest state are nothing more than a simple human. To compensate, my essence is siphoned off for you to use, and it manifests itself as Trance. So, there's your answer. You and I share an intimate bond, one that can't be broken. However, that said, I noticed earlier that for some reason, right now, we are pure. I am all me and you are all you."

"W-What does that mean?" Eve asked incredulously, after digesting the information.

Darkness smiled, looking out into the shadows. "It means that someone has forced me out, and that we are not alone here."

"I should have guessed you'd sense us." a masculine voice that Eve recognized came from the shadows, and her eyes widened as Hiro stepped into the light, a flat expression on his face. Her unspoken question was partially answered when Nemesis appeared next to him, eyes closed and face scrunched up in intense concentration.

"Hiro, please make it quick. I've never done this before, and this is seriously hurting my head trying to maintain this." Nemesis said with a pained tone. "So hurry before I give myself a stroke."

Hiro chuckled and patted her head before walking forward, standing near Darkness and looking at Eve through the cage. "Have to say, didn't expect that either of you would look like this. I kind of imagined Darkness as some sort of Lovecraftian horror. And I assumed you would look as you normally do, Eve."

Darkness's eyes were wide as it looked between the two newcomers. "How…" it asked incredulously. "How are you here, and how do you know about us?" Its voice was pure confusion, and it was clearly struggling to comprehend their presence.

Hiro shrugged. "Educated guess, based on what I've learned from watching you and Eve at work in the physical world. I came up with a sort of half-baked plan with Momo and Nemesis and just sort of went with it."

"Wait, are you saying that all that before-" Eve started, and Hiro nodded.

"All part of the plan. I had to draw Darkness out without a catalyst, and if I had told you the plan before, it wouldn't have worked. At least, it wouldn't have worked so well."

"So you didn't-"

"Of course I didn't! You know I'd never betray you, Eve!" he practically shouted. "You're my guardian angel of darkness. But more than that, you're family."

Eve straightened where she sat, staring at him. "I'm your...family?" she breathed, and Hiro smiled and nodded his head.

"Of course! You, Nemesis...and Mea. I saw you all as my sisters." He looked at Darkness and laughed. "Even you, Darkness. All of you. And you know how important my definition of family is."

The width of Darkness's eyes rivalled that of Eve's. "Why would you care about me? We have only meet once, and I doubt that was a very pleasant experience for you."

"You've been taking care of Eve for me when I can't." he explained. "Giving her her Trans, most notably."

"Trance." Eve suddenly said, and Darkness and Hiro looked at her. Nemesis remained concentrating in the background, too busy keeping them connected to be interested in the conversation.

"What?" Hiro asked.

"Trance." Eve repeated herself. "Not Trans."

Hiro blinked. "There's a difference?" he asked, and both of Yami's forms nodded.

"Trans is our species. Transformative weapons." Darkness explained. "But the ability is called Trance. I don't know why, blame the guys working on the Eden project."

Hiro nodded. "I...never thought about that before. I just assumed they were the same." he said.

"It's fine, no worries. It's easy to confuse." Darkness said. "Anyway...how are you here, and why are we fully separated?"

Hiro nodded, and glanced at Nemesis. "Remember when I had Momo bind you and Nemesis Trans-Fuse with you?" When both halves nodded, he continued. "Well, only half of her connected. The other half is inside me right now. To Momo, who is not connected to the network Nemesis managed to create, we're both frozen in place. Anyway, as for why you're separate...In the network Nemesis made between us, she was able to fully connect to both of you, meaning that you were forced to revert to your purest forms."

"How did you think of this?" Darkness asked, and Hiro smiled sadly.

"I came up with it after thinking about how Mea's Psycho Dive works. This is a weaker version that I figured Nemesis would be able to use."

"And it makes it feel like hundreds of rusty nails are being driven into my skull, so you'd better hurry this up!" Nemesis said from her spot standing away from them. "Hiro, once we're done here, I am NEVER doing this again, no matter what you promise me!"


	42. Black Dragon

"But why did you even try to come here?" Eve asked. "What possible reason would you have for wanting Darkness to come out?"

Hiro sighed. "You said it yourself, we needed a way to control...her?" he asked, looking at Darkness, who shook its head.

"I may have Eve's outward appearance in this visual mindscape, but I have no gender of my own." it stated flatly. "I am merely the source powering her bodily functions. So just using 'it' is fine. Or just call me whatever, it doesn't really matter to me."

Hiro blinked, then slowly nodded. "...Right." he said, glancing over her. "I'll just stick with 'she'." he said, before turning back to Eve, who had a blush displayed across her face as she realized that Darkness was inadvertently showing Hiro exactly what she looked like beneath her dress.

"Anyway, now that I'm actually here and have some more information, I believe it's actually impossible to control Darkness, at least, in the current system your mind is in."

"So you're saying it can't be done?" Eve asked sadly, and Hiro smiled and shook his head.

"Of course not, I think I have a new idea now that just might work." he said. "Darkness, you seem to know more about the connection between you two. Can you explain to me exactly what this cage and key system entails?"

Darkness nodded. "Only one of us can be the dominant part at any given time." it said. "And our connection is made into a cage and key metaphor in this visual version of our mind. Essentially, the dominant half holds the keys, and the submissive half is locked inside the cage."

Hiro nodded, crossing his arms and tapping his chin with a finger. "So, what would happen if you opened the cage and let the other out?"

"The cage can't be opened." Eve said, and Hiro looked at her. "There isn't a door."

Darkness chimed in after her. "When we switch, the cage remains shut. We're just forced through the openings between the bars. It's painful, and takes a while to do. Well, at least, it does for me. Eve is smaller, as you can see, so she is better able to slip between them when we do switch."

"Is that why it takes so long for the program to activate on the exterior, and why it takes almost no time at all for you to revert back?" he asked, and both halves nodded.

He nodded in return. "Then, tell me. Why are there keys in the first place?"

The two blinked simultaneously. "What do you mean?" Eve asked.

"If the cage has no door, then why are there keys?" he elaborated. "What do they unlock? And, why are there two of them?"

This time, it was Darkness who was confused, while Eve's face lifted in realization. "Are-Are you saying that it's possible for us both to have a key?" she asked, and Hiro grinned.

"Exactly. Have either of you tried giving one of the keys to the other person?" he asked, and the two halves looked at each other.

"We can't touch the cage." Eve said. "Neither of us are able to unless we're being switched."

Darkness hesitated, then held the key ring out in Hiro's direction. Hiro looked at it, then looked back at the half of power.

"What are you doing, Darkness?" he asked. Darkness shrugged.

"We can't both hold the keys, so why don't you try? Maybe you can do it, considering the fact that you were able to send Crow back into the cage last time."

Hiro stared, before shaking his head. "I can't do it. You said that one must hold the keys. What if you both ended up stuck inside and I couldn't undo it because I'm not a part of your consciousness? You'd be trapped forever and your outer body would no longer be able to function."

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Darkness asked, hesitating before lowering the keys.

Hiro smiled. "Simple. Once you start to switch back to Eve being in control, don't let go of the keys while you're going through. If my assumption is correct, the keyring will break and both of you will have one."

"But how will we swi-" Eve was interrupted when the cage began to glow a soft gold, the same color as the light that surrounded her when Darkness was activating outside, and Hiro grinned.

"Perfect timing, it seems. I was trying to stall for time while Darkness's influence over your physical body weakened. Now is the time, so at least attempt it."

The two females stared at the cage, which was glowing softly with the bright color that gave Konjiki no Yami the first part of her name.

"H-How?!" Darkness asked, and Hiro smiled.

"I figured that if I just had your attention long enough, the program would fall apart all on its own." he said, strangely calm despite the fact that he was now having to fight the sudden pressure that was being exerted from the cage. "And now that it's happened, you have the perfect opportunity to break the keyring."

He watched as the two slowly began moving towards the cage's boundaries, both wide-eyed as they did so. "So...You were planning for this to happen?!" Eve asked incredulously.

Hiro nodded. "Of course. I'm not an idiot, I made several educated guesses about how the activation process worked. Seems that I've been correct in my assumptions so far, so hopefully I continue to be right." He glanced over at Nemesis with a worried expression, who now had to both keep the mindscape and those inside it steady and fight the power being exerted from the cage. "Nemesis, just hang in there. There's not much more time left, and then you can let go."

"You'd better hurry or I'll get you before Tsubaki does." Nemesis hissed at him, her voice wobbling due to the strain on her mind. "You're lucky you're my perfect vessel and my friend or I'd kill you myself for doing this to me."

He simply chuckled and turned back to the two halves, watching as they slowly began to assimilate into the barrier of the cage, the light starting to surround them in a blinding flash of golden energy.

Eve's eyes were tightly closed as she passed next to and through the part of her mind that held their power, but Darkness's eyes were wide open and fully alert.

Darkness held the hand holding the keys out to Eve, and spoke as calmly as she could, though under the pressure of the transformation, her voice was hard to hear, as if the energy being transferred was causing the atmosphere to become thick with its aura.

"Eve...Take a key. Don't doubt Nakamura-san. We both trust him with everything we have, so we have to try to follow through with the plan that he created." She laughed. "And if this fails...then hey, we tried our best at the end, right?"

Eve struggled to open her eyes, the far weaker spiritual part of their mind more deeply affected by the transfer of power than her other half, especially now that she didn't even have her Trance anymore.

But let it not be said that Eve Lunatique was a weakling. She may not have the power she always wielded right now, but true to the part of their soul that she embodied, her will was strong, strong enough that she was able to open her eyes and take the key being offered to her.

When both halves held a key, the light suddenly expanded, pushing outward like an explosion, bright enough that Hiro had to cover his eyes with an arm, though he did not turn away.

After the light dissipated, the result of the attempt to follow his plan was revealed, as when the light vanished entirely, the region where the cage had been was no longer illuminated by the soft glow that the cage had given off, and where there were two beings, there now was only one, laying still on the ground.

Hiro blinked to clear the spots created by the light out of his vision, and stepped forward, kneeling over next to the girl. "So…" he said calmly. "Which one are you?" Obviously, he didn't know the result of his own experiment, that was the point in it being an experiment.

The girl sat up, and groaned, holding a hand to her forehead. "I have newfound respect for people who are capable of getting sick...having a headache is no fun." she said, and looked up at him, blinking several times as she did so.

She looked like Darkness, but was dressed in the usual battle outfit she often wore outside of this mental world, so that she looked much like the usual Yami. "Who...am I?" she asked, and shook her head. "I...don't really know. It feels like I'm Eve, but I can feel Darkness in me too…"

Hiro nodded. "So...does that mean that it worked?" he asked, and she smiled at him.

"I guess it did. This form...It must be the two of us fused together." she said, and Hiro nodded.

"When yin and yang combine, you get the tao, the fusion of nature and thought." he stated, and the Eve-Darkness in front of him nodded.

"Well, what are you going to call me?" she asked, and he tapped his chin with a finger.

"Well...you know how bad I am with names…" he said, thinking, the mindscape going silent as he did so. "You're...Black Dragon. Because I can't think of anything else."


	43. The Meaning of a Name

The girl smiled, sitting up, groaning as she held her hand to her head. "Looks like my headache's starting to fade, but I still feel really weak…" she said, looking up at the boy in front of her.

She grinned. "You know...I never really thought about it before, but you've grown a lot since we first met." She chuckled. "Well...since I first started stalking you, that is."

Hiro blinked, sitting down next to her and tilting his head. "What do you mean? I haven't changed all that much, aside from the obvious stuff." he said, confused.

That elicited another laugh from the newly-fused Trans. "I guess you haven't noticed...You _are_ a pretty stupid hero, aren't you?" she joked, and Hiro laughed in response.

"That's been my whole thing nowadays, but you have to admit, I do have my moments."

She smiled warmly at him. "That you do. But you really have grown since then. Remember only four months ago, when if you saw an alien, your first reaction would have been to punch first and ask questions later? And look at you now, helping one, no, specifically, helping _me_ of all people, one of the most dangerous and least trustworthy, with something I've struggled with for my entire life. And it isn't just your xenophobia that's changed. Your entire attitude is different now, like living around all of us has caused some of our...er... _enthusiasm_...to rub off on you. I can see it in your eyes. Where you used to be filled with nothing but bitter hatred, now I can see contentment. Your hatred isn't gone, and I doubt it ever will be, but that's a normal part of life." She chuckled. "We all have our demons after all, and I know that better than anybody."

Hiro was silent as he processed what she had said, and after thinking, he smiled softly. "I...guess you're right." he said. "I really have loosened up a lot since then...Kind of sounds like a certain Trans when she met her last target."

Black Dragon laughed. "I still don't know why I was going after him for so long, I mean, the contract dissolved as soon as I realized he wasn't like I was told." She sighed, looking down at the empty ground before looking back at her self-imposed charge with a somewhat sly grin. "And it isn't just your personality that's changed, you know…" she said, leaning towards him. "You've changed physically too. It makes me wonder why I've only caught a few girls looking at you with hearts in their eyes."

Hiro blinked, and leaned away from her, suddenly deciding the absolutely flat, empty ground was very interesting to look at. "I don't know what you're talking about." he said. "I'm only slightly more popular now that I've stopped actively avoiding people…"

The girl rolled her eyes and sat straight once again, holding a fist to her mouth and coughing. "I wouldn't be so sure. As someone who is one of those people, I think I can pick up on things like that more easily than your thick skull."

Hiro turned around and stared at her, a shocked expression on his face, and she laughed again. "Oh, come on. I'm pretty sure Crow already told you how I feel about you."

Hiro shook his head. "No, it's not what you said that surprised me...It's that you actually said it." he corrected. "I wasn't prepared for you to be so open now that you've fused…"

She simply laughed in response. "The personalities of both Eve and Darkness are assimilated into me now, so I'm naturally going to be more open about my feelings than Eve, though I'll simultaneously be more secretive than Darkness. Besides, not like it matters what I say anyway, you're already here in my mindscape, and I'm eternally grateful for you for doing such a thing as this for me." She motioned with her hands as if to outline the now-nonexistant cage.

Hiro nodded, glancing at Nemesis. "Well, I don't think we should wait much longer here. I think Nemesis is about at the end of her rope by now." he said, and made to stand up, but was stopped by slender fingers on his shirt tail.

He stopped and looked at Black Dragon, who now had a light tinge of red on her face that was most certainly not there before.

"Naka-" she said, before shaking her head. "Hiro-san…There's one more thing I want to request from you, something I don't want to ask while Momo is outside."

Hiro blinked, before sitting back down, glancing at her with his head tilted at an angle. "What is it?" he asked, his voice low, as he sensed that whatever she wanted to say was clearly important.

She gulped, before nodding. "When we leave here and go back to the outside...I don't want you to call me Yami anymore, in private or with others around. I...I want to be Eve to you, no matter who is watching. Because…" She lowered her head, her face flushing bright crimson.

Hiro was silent as the girl tried to calm herself down, knowing that speaking wouldn't help her.

She inhaled before speaking again. "Because...You called me a sister." she finally said. "I never truly had a family to call my own, Tearju disappeared early and I didn't even know Mea existed until recently, so you're the only person I've really been able to be close to...So, please, call me Eve from now on. That's all I want from you, Hiro-san."

Hiro was silent for several moments, before finally smiling and giving a nod to her. "Of course I'll call you that, Eve." he said, the name coming out more smoothly than it had before, since he'd already had some practice using it with her. And I already told you and Darkness how I feel about you, so you shouldn't need to be told that again."

The newly-confirmed Eve laughed. "I may have a lot bouncing around in my head right now, but I'm not brain-damaged. I still remember everything perfectly." She sighed, standing up. "Well, that's really all I wanted to say to you here. Nothing more to ask that would be _too_ nightmarish for the Demon of Deviluke to hear."

Hiro laughed as he stood up beside her. "I'm assuming that name's referring to Momo?" he asked, earning a nod from the Trans.

He nodded back and walked over to Nemesis, tapping on her shoulder. "Alright, Nemesis. Send us back." he said. "We're done here."

Nemesis let out a loud groan of relief as he said that, and instantly, the mindscape vanished, carrying those within it out and to their respective bodies.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

The bright light of the sun nearly blinded Hiro when he came to, an he had to blink rapidly before his eyes could adjust to the light, a complete opposite to the dim world of Eve's mind.

He lowered his hand from where he had been touching her forehead during the entire meeting, as a safeguard to give Nemesis SOME connection between them, and looked around.

Everything was exactly as they had left it. In fact, almost no time at all had passed here, despite the meeting itself seeming to have taken hours. Momo still had the binding vines out and wrapped around Eve's body, and the only real change was that Nemesis was now lying spread eagle on the ground, panting heavily due to the amount of energy she'd had to use. It was a wonder she hadn't dissociated like she'd nearly done when Crow had gone through her activation stage.

"Hiro…" the tanned girl said exhaustedly. "Never make me do that, ever again."

Hiro smiled. "Of course not. You did well, you played your part perfectly." he replied.

"So, does that mean you succeeded?" came the voice of the pink-haired alien nearby, and he looked at her and nodded.

"Yep. Everything's all taken care of now. You can call back your vines." he said, and Momo laughed.

"Aww, I wanted to play a little with her…" She said. "But it's fine either way!" she quickly corrected when she saw the glare Hiro gave her, and with the press of a button on her D-Dial, the vines were recalled, leaving Eve standing still on the ground, seemingly not moving.

Hiro looked at her face, and laughed, nodding. "She's asleep." he said. "Passed out standing up. Not that I blame her, after what she just managed to do."

"We all need to rest." Momo stated. "It was exhausting for everyone, even me. I don't really know what was going on inside your heads, but whatever it was, I could feel it slowly draining me of my own energy. At least I'm not at the edge of a coma like Nemesis is!"

Hiro laughed, sitting down on the grass, gently pulling Eve down into a sitting position with him, careful to keep her balanced since she was clearly not in her wits enough to do it herself. "Nemesis exceeded my expectations there, honestly." he said calmly, as if he had already predicted it anyway. "I thought she'd fall apart halfway through it and we'd have to come up with a different plan."

"Have some faith in me!" Nemesis called from her spot staring into the sky. If she had the capability to sweat, Hiro had a feeling she'd be drenched right now. "I'm stronger than I look!"

"I don't doubt that, but what you just did is something no one in history has been able to do before. I doubt that even Mea could have succeeded in doing such a high-level Psycho Dive."

A hand balled into a fist raised into the air in a tired victory pose. "Yay, I finally surpassed her in her own game." Nemesis said tiredly. "Now I'm going to sleep. Don't wake me up or Tsubaki will be the last of your worries."

Hiro chuckled to himself as the petite girl's eyes closed and her body went still as she drifted into sleep, and without realizing it, he yawned as well.

"That must have taken more out of me than I thought…" he said. "Momo, can you handle the cleanup for me? I think I'll take a nap like these two decided to do."

"I'll try, but no promises that one or all of you will end up in an awkward position with the other." she said with a mischievous grin. "You know me...The Demon of Deviluke." she said, as if she knew what Eve had called her inside the mindscape.


	44. Hiro's Sidekick

"Abbadon." the man said, looking at the screen showing the face of his spy. "Again, you find it important enough to call me directly? What have you been doing over there?"

The spy bowed lightly to the man, a nervous expression over her face that matched well with her normal shy look at the man. "This time, it's not a negative report, but something I think you'll quite like to hear." she said quickly. "Nakamura-kun has redeemed the loss of Kurosaki Mea now, by attempting to set a control on Yami's Darkness Program."

The man blinked, and a wide grin went across his face, his eyes brightening with the news. "Excellent! I was hoping that Hiro would find a good use for that particular aspect of her physiology...What exactly did he do, and what was his level of success?"

"He used Nemesis and Princess Momo to invade her mind. I don't know exactly what happened, as I am unable to use the Psycho Dive capability that Mea had, but from the interactions between them after Nemesis broke away from them, I would venture to say that he succeeded. There's still a lot to figure out, but I'll have more information in time for my next report."

The man sighed. "Why did I think Momo would stop getting her hands into this?" he asked himself. "Well, it doesn't matter. If your information is accurate, it would seem that she is becoming a key player in all of this as well."

Abbadon nodded. "If I may offer my opinion, sir?" she asked quietly.

The man nodded and waved a hand, resting his chin on his other arm. "Go ahead, I would like to hear everything you have to say about this. Your judgement is quite good, after all." he replied.

She nodded again in response and inhaled, closing her eyes as if to calm herself, before opening her eyes again. "I think that you should start focusing on more than just the project here." she said, and when the man remained silent, she went on to explain herself. "It seems that there are multiple major factors at play here. The project's influence is great, especially in a city with as high an alien population as Sainan, but even with Tsubaki's activity, it isn't the only thing at play. There is also the still-unknown agenda of Doctor Mikado, and the princesses themselves all seem to have some motive for helping Nakamura-kun despite the fact that he has given them nothing in return."

The man sighed. "Don't label Mikado-sama as a potential enemy." he said calmly. "She is one of Devluke's, and most of the universe's, greatest allies. Her motivation is purely medical in nature, there is no point in worrying about her connections. And as for those three...As long as they don't know that I am the one leading all of this, then there will be no problem. Just let them do whatever they wish to. But...keep a special eye on Momo. She doesn't follow any simulations, and while I am certain that she would never betray those close to her so easily, there is no telling what she may do. She could very well ruin the project with one of her crazy plans."

"Sir, if I may ask...What is the purpose of letting Tsubaki go for this long?" Abbadon asked. "We could have come in and taken her out as soon as she popped up again, but you ordered us to hold back."

The man grinned at her question. "Don't ask questions you don't need to know the answers to." he replied. "I have my reasons, and I am confident that Hiro will be able to overcome this hurdle anyway."

Abbadon nodded, not daring to question the man's thought processes. Even behind a screen and thousands of light-years apart, she still couldn't help but shiver as she thought about the power the man held. If he so chose it, she wouldn't be alive for much longer, and while she knew that she was too valuable to him to lose, she still wanted no part in his anger.

"Then I will leave with that. I have nothing more to report to you, sir." she said, and with a nod from the man, her screen blinked out, signalling that she had ended he connection.

The man smiled and tapped on the arm of his chair. "Well, well, well. It seems that things are advancing even faster than I was hoping for." he said to himself. "Not that I doubted Hiro's ability in the slightest...he is the project's prodigy child after all. I expect no less from him."

He laughed. "Come to think of it...Abbadon used -kun to describe him, didn't she? Seems that she's finally starting to let her guard down there...I'll have to figure out a safeguard for that. We can't have her cracking under any amount of pressure and spilling everything about the project after all…"

He shook his head. "No, that won't be a problem. She has never failed a mission before, and this one is of top priority. She is a part of the project, after all. I should put more faith in her. She may simply be assimilating into Earth's society better and have simply been using her false personality in front of me."

"I wonder how long it'll be before she decides to kick off that false pretense and act a little more aggressive...Her shyness is starting to affect the project's course, if the simulations are accurate. But what to do to solve the issue?"

He shrugged. "Better let things play out like usual, that's all I can do for now."

BREAKBREAKBREAK

Hiro groaned, sitting up tiredly, blinking away the sleep in his eyes. "Well, that was a nice nap." he said, reaching a hand to scratch an itch on his forehead, but his arm was met with some kind of resistance.

He looked down, and smiled at the sight. The two surviving Trans were curled up next to him on the bed, Eve gripping tightly around his arm with her own.

She looked...normal. There had been no physical change in her due to the release of Black Dragon, so it was hard for him to see her as the new version of herself that she was now.

As for Nemesis...He groaned when he saw her. At some point she'd shed her clothes again, as she seemed to do quite often for whatever reason, and was currently passed out lying face-up, leaving him a very good view of-

He shook his head and sighed. He'd by now gotten used to the sight of the tanned girl naked, and now, he hardly reacted as he would have a few months ago.

"Wait...Who brought us inside?" he asked himself, and looked up when he heard the sound of giggling across the room.

Momo was seated on an old wicker chair Hiro had forgotten about in a corner of the room, watching the three in the bed. "I did. I'm stronger than I look." she explained. "You all look so cute sleeping like that~"

Hiro sighed. "Very funny. How long have you been watching us?" he asked.

"Oh, only a couple minutes or so. It was too hard to resist when I saw how adorable you all are together. Makes me a little jealous that I don't have a big Nii-chan to cuddle with when I feel scared."

Hiro rolled his eyes. "You have Rito." he stated simply. "And don't follow that up with anything you're thinking about, I don't want to know the kinds of things you do with him."

The Demon of Deviluke pouted. "I'll have you know been holding myself back." she argued. "I want to wait for him to be conscious to do anything."

"I told you I didn't want to hear it." Hiro groaned. "And I really don't want to know what you do when he's asleep. That's your business, don't drag me into it. I'm not a part of your private life, so I want nothing to do with it."

"Actually, I've devoted quite a bit of time to you recently." Momo corrected. "Since you're my little side project!"

Hiro rolled his eyes again. The middle child of the princesses was one of the most frustrating people to be around that he'd ever met. That included Yukihime back when she still acted like a jerk to him in class.

He shifted to move Eve's arm away from his, and carefully stepped around and over Nemesis so he could stand on the floor. Both of them responded by curling up to each other in an effort to fill the void left by his absence.

He smiled at their reactions and turned to face Momo. "Anyway, I'm still not entirely convinced you actually need to be here anymore. I've got things under control with the Trans now, and I have plenty of backup plans for fighting Tsubaki. Not that you actually care about that, from what I've seen your only motivation is matchmaking."

Instantly, Momo's happy expression dropped to a frown. "Hiro...I'm not some kind of lightheaded ditz like Lala is. I know exactly what's going on and exactly how dangerous this situation is. I guess you haven't noticed, but I've been doing much more than just 'matchmaking'. I've been helping you get closer to the Trans, to the point that I went along with your insane idea to unlock Yami's Darkness, and I've been using whatever sources I have to get as much data as possible on Tsubaki. I can understand why you wouldn't really notice me as much as you do the people closer to you, but please don't write me off as just that one person who makes sure things go my way. I'm in this as much as you are now. After Mea...After her, I want Tsubaki dead too."

Hiro stood still, staring at the girl. After a while, he looked down and smiled. "Yeah...Guess I've been caught up on trying to lead everyone on my own." he said. "And you're right... you're not an idiot. You're probably one of the smartest people I know. Definitely the smartest Devilukean I know."

Momo nodded. "So don't push me to the side. Tell me when you're planning something. I'll be your advisor, like I was for your Darkness plan. You do really need help, you're really bad at adapting to changing situations."

"Yeah...guess I am. Every hero has his weakness, I guess?" he said, and Momo laughed.

"And every hero has his sidekick too. Just don't expect any romance from me, I'm all for Rito."

"I wouldn't want that even if it was an option."


	45. The Meaning of Friend

Hiro could barely contain his laughter as he listened to Momo recounting a memory from her childhood.

"Wait, so you're saying that you were able to keep him from taking it back just by holding it above your head?!" he exclaimed. "How short is the guy?"

Momo giggled as she remembered the story. "Father's tiny, he regressed all the way into a baby in the Galactic War. I could easily dwarf him even back then!"

They'd been talking to each other about mundane things like that for the last half hour or so. It was strange for Hiro, talking with her about her past when so much was going on, but it was a nice break from reality.

It was odd. He didn't really know how he felt about Momo before today. Before, he had seen her as simply the girl who liked interfering with his love life, as she seemed to enjoy doing for everyone she meets, and he had said numerous times that he trusted her even less than he trusted Tsubaki.

Tsubaki was easy to predict, after all. All of her decisions were driven by her desire to kill. Momo's motives, however, were fluid, impossible to determine at any one time. It made it impossible for him to figure out what she was thinking. No wonder she'd earned the moniker of the "Demon of Deviluke". That name was exactly how he'd seen her, as a wolf in sheep's clothing.

But now that he was talking to her, now that she was telling him about her childhood, he realized that she wasn't quite as demonic as he had made her out to be. From the way she spoke while she recollected her memories to the expression on her face to the hand motions she subconsciously made while she talked, she looked...normal. Now that she wasn't actively plotting something, or at least, not that he could see, she seemed more...girly. Not so much like a force waiting in the shadows and more like a regular person.

Of course, he felt no love for her. She was still not the kind of person he could see himself caring for in the same way that he saw the Trans. She was more like...a friend than anything else.

That word. For Hiro, words held a lot of meaning. Words like trust, and friend, and family. Those were things that he did not take lightly. He'd lost too much in the past to throw those words around. For him to pin someone with one of those words meant that he was willing to accept that they may some day die. For him to call someone a friend meant that he had to be willing to cry for them after what in his mind was an inevitable death.

Mea's death had only strengthened the depth of those words for him. Seeing the happy-go-lucky girl being lowered into the ground had nearly made him slip back into the depression he'd gone into when his parents' bodies were taken away.

He had not been allowed to see them buried back then. Their condition had been so bad that the people who cleaned up had deemed him unfit to see them again without collapsing. They had been right, he could have never handled seeing that.

So for him to consider Momo a friend...no, for him to consider all of them his friends, even Yukihime, whose name in his mind changed many times, meant that he had finally convinced himself to care again.

Momo's seemingly innocent anecdotes had their own underlying purpose, as most if not all of her words probably did. Hiro had to smile in recognition of her uncanny talent at drawing out emotion with her actions.

Or he was thinking too much into it, he wasn't really sure which.

The sound of his bed shifting caught their attention, and Eve sat up, rubbing her eyes to clear the sleep from them with one hand.

"Oh…" she said sleepily. "We're inside. Did you take us in here, Hiro-san?"

Hiro smiled and shook his head. "No, Eve. Actually, Momo did."

Momo blinked, looking at him. "Eve?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yami's real name." Hiro explained, as if it was a perfectly normal revelation. "While we were in her mindscape, she asked me to start using it in public instead of calling her Yami."

"Y-You mean that you knew her real name?!" Momo exclaimed, jumping back and staring at him.

Hiro laughed. "Come on, I figured that you'd planned it like that."

"Of course I didn't! Nobody knew her real name until now! This is...a huge revelation!"

"Momo." Eve stated calmly. "It doesn't matter anymore. I plan to tell everyone my real name, though I only want Hiro-san to actually use it for now. I don't want anyone else to use it until I have decided that I wish to be called it more commonly."

BREAKBREAKBREAK

"This is going nowhere." Camellia complained to herself, sitting in her bed as she always did when she was planning. "Now that I've confirmed that Darkness isn't just a rumor, all my plans fall apart. The only thing I can hope for is that Hiro fears it as much as I do…"

She shook her head. "No, knowing him, he's probably planning to utilize Darkness even now. I can't realistically expect him NOT to make every possible attempt to gain control over such a great power."

She sighed. "What I wouldn't give to gain access to THAT body...But I can't risk it. I still have my uses for this host." She sighed again, shaking her head. "Mr. Pointy-Teeth really made this difficult for me, with all this Darkness nonsense...Why couldn't this have been as simple as with my other victims?"

She smirked and looked down. "What am I saying? Of course it's not simple, Hiro's Mr. Pointy-Teeth's little favorite, after all. And that guy doesn't play favorites without very good reason."

BREAKBREAKBREAK

"So, Eve, how do you feel?" Hiro asked, glancing at the still-unconscious Nemesis. He sighed and shook his head. The tanned girl would remain asleep for quite a while, considering how much energy she'd had to use up to keep them together in the mindscape.

Eve tilted her head, looking at her hand, clenching and releasing it a few times. "I feel...pretty normal, actually. I don't even have a headache or anything from my personalities fusing. It's like I was always like this."

"And your Trance?" Hiro asked, remembering Darkness's explanation of the difference between the very similar words. "Are you still able to use it now?"

Eve raised her hand, letting it shift to the familiar Trance blade that had often been at the neck of the unfortunate Yuuki-senpai. "It seems to be working we-"

She was interrupted when the blade suddenly extended unbidden, and Momo, standing next to Hiro, was only barely able to duck before it hit the air where her head was.

She stared wide-eyed at the blade, and Eve frowned, retracting it. "It seems...that I will need to recalibrate it a bit. I must have gained a boost in power surpassing that of Darkness when the two halves fused." she stated calmly, as if she hadn't nearly beheaded the Devilukean.

"How long is that going to take? And what do you mean by recalibration?" Momo asked, after recollecting herself.

Eve tilted her head. "I can simply train with Hiro-san for a while and I should get the hang of it again. It's not that much different from what I'm used to, so it shouldn't take that long." She looked at Hiro. "And even if I do mess up and hurt him, he can easily regenerate using Nemesis."

Hiro laughed nervously. "So you're going to use me as a punching bag until you get used to it. Just because I can heal faster than normal doesn't mean I don't feel pain, you know…"

"I was just teasing you, Hiro-san." she said. "I guess I have yet to finish assimilating my personality as well, I keep swapping between theirs."

"So you aren't quite Black Dragon yet?" he asked, and she nodded in response.

"I will speak with Doctor Mikado later about it. Knowing her, she will probably know what to do."

"What about Tearju?" Momo asked.

Eve nodded. "I will talk to Tear too. I have to catch up with her anyway, I've been unintentionally avoiding her since I started stalking Hiro-san." she said nonchalantly, as if stalking wasn't a strange thing, though by now, it was common knowledge and nobody really cared about it anymore. She had been Hiro's shadow for so long that everybody just accepted it at this point, no questions asked.

"Tearju?" Hiro asked. "Come to think of it, I still haven't even so much as seen her...I probably should, according to Nemesis, she was the one to first come up with the idea for her project."

"You have seen her before." Eve said. "She was at Mea's funeral."

Hiro blinked, and sighed. "Oh, right. Her. I guess I was too busy being angry at myself to really notice that she was there."

"That was in the past now, there's nothing we can do to change it. We just have to make sure Tsubaki pays for her crimes now." Momo said. "That's how we can make sure Mea didn't die in vain."

Hiro sighed and nodded. "Of course. I've wanted to kill that Ragnarian personally for half my life, and I'm definitely not stopping now."


	46. Meeting Eve's Mother

Hiro chuckled to himself as he realized that since everything had started going down, it had felt increasingly stranger going to school like a normal student. Somehow, he'd managed to balance his assignments with everything else that had been going on, but it still felt unreal. His life was tied to the alien sitting next to Yukihime and the one on the floor next to his seat, acting just as she always had.

Wait, always? He hook his head. This had all started less than four months ago. Before Crow came out, before Yami stalked him, before he'd found Nemesis, he was such a different person. He'd changed so much in that short time period, hadn't he?

He didn't know if the changes inside him were for the better or the worse. He subconsciously ran his hand across Eve's head in a reassuring pat, mostly to reassure himself that she was actually real. She didn't turn away from the motion, rather, she turned to look up at him.

He gave a small smile to her, one that she matched with a larger grin, which was quite strange to see on the face he was still not quite able to differentiate from hers when she was still Yami.

They'd decided before school to visit Tearju today. With the next phase of Hiro's Darkness plan, they'd need the former Eden biogeneticist for help.

Luckily for them, Tearju happened to be a second-year teacher, and even luckier, she was the Devilukean twins' homeroom teacher, so they didn't have to do very much looking around to find her room, so they decided to head there during lunch.

"Nakamura-kun." came a quiet voice from behind him, and he glanced back, smiling at the ever-silent Haruhi. He'd basically forgotten she even existed recently, and it made him feel a little guilty, but he reassured himself that it would have been impossible to remember every background character in the school anyway.

"Yeah, Haruhi-chan?" he asked, and she quickly looked down at her lap in her normal shy manner.

"You-You seem happy today." she said. "You're smiling more than usual."

He blinked, lightly touching his face with the hand not patting Eve's head. "I...guess I have, haven't I?" he said quietly, and was interrupted by a cough from the front of the room.

"Well, since they so gladly volunteered…" Saero-sensei said. "Haruhi-san, will you please come up and do this problem for us?"

Haruhi visibly stiffened at the prospect, but slowly nodded, put on the spot by their teacher, before standing up to walk to the board.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

As the two, closely followed by Nemesis, headed to Tearju's classroom across the school during lunch, Eve pondered what had happened in the classroom.

"I don't recall ever hearing that girl say anything memorable." she mused. "I had pinned her as being a bit of an idiot, but she seemed to know what she was doing pretty well, though she's constantly nervous."

Hiro shrugged. "There's always the dandere type in every classroom." he said, before shaking his head to return to the task at hand. "Alright, so once we get there, we're going to have to first explain to her about your fusion, Eve."

Eve nodded. "Knowing her, we'd better wait until she sits down before telling her. She's very clumsy, if she had a shock like that standing up then she'd no doubt cause damage to multiple desks and her own skull on the way down."

Hiro laughed. "She's completely the opposite of you, isn't she? Hard to believe you're her clone." he pointed out, and Eve nodded.

"Well, I was heavily modified while I was being conceived, so it's doubtful I'd share many, if any, traits with her, other than my physical appearance." She thought for a few seconds. "Other than my eyes. Still don't know what genes changed that made my eyes red instead of green."

"And why my eyes are gold of all colors!" Nemesis chimed in.

"Nemesis, none of your body is affected by genetics, you _chose_ to look like that. Everything about you is synthetic."

Nemesis puffed her cheeks out in a pout. "Oh, come on, Hiro. It's no fun when you explain it like that. Let me have my fun at least!"

"You've seen inside my mind, you know I like thinking logically. But sure, I'll let it slide, it's no harm done after all. Anyway, we have to focus on the task at hand, so come on."

BREAKBREAKBREAK

Hiro knocked on the classroom door before opening it and looking inside. "Excuse me, we're looking for Tearju-sensei?" he asked one of the few students who had decided to stay in the room during their lunch break. He noticed the distinct lack of the Devilukean he most often spoke to, but saw Nana near the back and waved, to which she waved back before going back to whatever she was doing.

Hiro and Nana weren't exactly friends, but he'd seen her a couple times nearby or at his house after being dragged there by Momo. She seemed like a pretty conservative individual, someone Hiro respected as one of the closest people personality-wise to him, but he'd never really bothered getting to know her.

"Tearju-sensei's in the library." one of the kids nearest the door said.

"Thank you." Hiro said, and the trio left the room, closing the door behind them and heading out. "Eve, do you know where the library is? I haven't actually ever gone there…"

Eve nodded. "I go there quite often, follow me." she said, taking the lead and heading down the hallway. "It is quite odd for Tear to be there though, normally she tends to stay away from my usual places…"

"Well, maybe she was just afraid of making you angry. After all, your relationship with her isn't exactly the best." he said, and Eve nodded in agreement.

"And now that I am Eve again, I still don't really want to try to make up. We are both different people than we were all those centuries ago, so our relationship is also completely different."

Hiro thought for a few seconds. "By the way, that reminds me...How old are you, anyway? I never really asked, though I figured you were way older than you look."

Eve nodded. "How old did you think I was? And how old is Nemesis?"

Nemesis shook her head. "I'm the youngest of the Trans, I only turned 17 recently. Around the time you were running around getting the crap beaten out of you by Azenda." She sighed. "And Mea was...I think 18, when she died, though I'm not entirely sure since I never learned exactly WHEN she was created."

Eve nodded. "And I am approximately 24,000 years old, in Kurosu's years, which is about...23,000 in Earth years, I think."

Hiro blinked. "That's 18 thousand years older than the oldest human civilization!" he asked with surprise,to which she let out a giggle, another action he wasn't yet used to seeing her do.

"Yes, I suppose I am. Never really thought about it like that." she replied. "Is there a problem with me having such a disparity from you?"

Hiro blinked, and shook his head. "Oh, no, I was just surprised is all. And that means that Tearju is ALSO that old...She doesn't seem like it."

"Tear probably was cryogenically frozen for most of that time, that's the only real explanation for why she seems unaware of so much having gone on in the interim."

They stopped talking as they finally got to the library, walking inside in silence. It was bigger than Hiro had expected, a couple stories tall from the look of it.

Tearju was sitting near one of the windows, poring over several books, papers all over the table. From there, Hiro couldn't tell if she was working on school work or just on some other project.

The group walked over to her, though she didn't seem to notice their footsteps or their presence there until Eve spoke up.

"Tear." she said, making the teacher jump, resulting in several books falling to the ground and papers flying everywhere.

"Oh, Yami-chan! I'm sorry, I didn't see you!" she said, reaching down from her seat to the floor to pick up the fallen materials. "It's...not often that you come to me for something, what's wrong?"

Eve nodded. "Tear, I am not Konjiki no Yami anymore." she said. "I am simply Eve once again. Hiro-san unlocked my Darkness and gave me full control of my power, so I decided that I would go by the name I was given at conception." she added, clearly not worried about the potential reaction the scientist would have to such an enormous event.

"D-Darkness?!" the teacher shouted, pushing her seat back to stand, arms planted on the table. "Yam-Eve, you released Darkness again, so soon after the last time?!"

"Tear. There isn't any reason to worry so much. Hiro-san knew what he was doing when he forced it to come out, and thanks to him, I now have full control. Darkness will never be a menace again, not as long as Hiro is alive."


	47. Murano's Concerns

Yukihime sighed, staring down, arms crossed on her desk, her unopened bento next to her. She didn't really feel hungry, too lost in thought to care about the food.

She wasn't really sure what to feel. On one hand, Hiro had slowly been getting more and more accustomed to the people who'd begun surrounding him, and whenever she saw him, he seemed to be much happier than he had been less than 4 months ago. The smiles he sometimes had on his face were now genuine, no longer the forced fronts he'd put up back then when he wanted people to think he was perfectly fine when she knew that he wasn't.

On the other hand, while she could see how close he was getting to his new friends and, she almost couldn't believe the idea, those he considered family, he was also getting more and more distant from her.

Then again, she probably deserved it. For almost eight years since the Tsubaki Incident, she'd been acting like a jerk to him. She didn't even know why she started doing that, she'd known from the beginning how it had affected him. She'd had no reason to make him go further into the shell he had formed around himself.

She knew he had every right to hate her. Her confession to him what felt like months ago wouldn't be enough to change things between them, she knew that. If anything, she had only forced the rift between them even wider, by opening up old wounds that they had both wanted to stay buried.

Her forehead met the wood of her desk. "I'm an idiot." she whispered to herself. She knew there was little chance she could save face in his eyes after that, not after he'd basically ignored her since then. And now that Tsubaki was confirmed to have returned and had killed someone else close to him…

"Idiot." she repeated. It was just like 8 years ago., except that this time, Tsubaki had found him without her accidentally getting involved.

Which meant that now, not only did Hiro not trust her anymore, it also meant that it would be very difficult for her to get into the action. She wanted revenge on the Ragnarian just as much as he did. She simply felt too much guilt over allowing her to find his home and massacre his parents.

Guilt. Now that she thought about it, maybe that was the main reason she'd treated him so horribly since it had happened. She'd been trying to drive him away in order to hide her own sadness and anger directed at herself.

When did she start being so selfish? Why? She couldn't fathom her own reasoning. Why would she even care about how she herself felt when her closest friend was suffering so much? Why would she rub salt in the wound by pushing him away after it happened, especially when it had been all her fault in the first place?

She was selfish and she knew it, but now that she'd realized what a grave mistake she'd made, she knew it was probably too late. Hiro's trust in her had been shattered, and she knew him well enough that she was aware that there would be few things great enough that he would learn to trust her again.

She'd screwed up 8 years ago and she now had to reap what she'd sown.

She blinked and looked up, thinking she'd heard someone say her name, but after looking around at the people talking to each other in the classroom or just generally milling around, she shook her head and looked back down at her desk.

She was silently thankful for her brain tricking her into thinking that she'd heard someone. It had forced her out of her odd brooding mood and brought her back into reality.

She smiled sadly. "It's not quite over." she whispered.

That's right. All wasn't lost yet. She still had a chance, however slim it may be, to redeem herself in his eyes. She wanted to fight for him, to aid him in his quest to destroy the being who had terrorized not only his family, but an entire section of the galaxy.

She smiled internally. She would help him in any way she could. She may not have been a Trans, heck, she was a pure human and had no special abilities whatsoever, but despite not even being all that strong for her own species, much less able to break an experienced assassin's neck without being detected, but she'd do what she could to support him.

She cared about Hiro, more deeply than she was willing to admit, and she didn't want to see him hurt.

That was when Yukihime decided. She wouldn't be selfish any longer. She would be whatever Hiro needed her to be, so they could possibly rekindle their friendship and so she could join the ranks of the people, male and female, who were helping him against Tsubaki.

She didn't really expect anything more than friendship to happen, she knew that he was far closer to the remaining Trans than she could ever be to him, but she was fine just being by his side.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

The meeting with Tearju left barely any more information than Hiro already knew, a result that vastly disappointed him. He'd been hoping that the alien scientist would be able to give some advice pertaining to Eve, and he'd even asked her if she had any new information on Nemesis, but sadly, she was as clueless as they were. She wouldn't be of any help, as far as Hiro could see.

The meeting was surprisingly unmemorable, almost nothing of interest happening except that Tearju somehow managed to trip on her own feet when she stood up to head back to her classroom. Evidently, she had the same legendary clumsiness Yuuki-senpai was well-known for, albeit a little easier to dodge, meaning that Hiro DIDN'T end up underneath her when she'd fallen.

All in all, the trio walked back to the room, as confused as ever on what to do. Nemesis had seemingly already forgotten about the meeting, chattering away about something her current best friend, Hideki Kurumi, told her a few days ago.

Hiro had little affiliation with Kurumi, since she sat fairly far away from him place, but after a little observation during class after Nemesis had told him about her, he had decided that she was alright. Not someone he'd care to know, but he liked seeing Nemesis's happy expression whenever she talked about her.

Luckily, Nemesis was smart enough that she realized how bad an idea it would have been if she'd told Hideki about her alien heritage, so at least for now, the girl, who was obviously human and had no connection to aliens as most of the students were, was in the dark about her friend's true identity.

In any case, it wasn't really Hiro's business who Nemesis chose as friends. She was a Sainan High student, after all, and besides, she had a long time living in solitude to make up for.

So did he, but he felt that he'd more than made up for that with all the people he had suddenly seemed to find himself surrounded by. Even in class, where once he was totally ignored or outright avoided, people actually came to talk to him about various things. He wasn't exactly the most popular person in class, and he still had trouble getting used to talking about casual topics with people he barely knew, but it was a start, at least. It was pretty nice to not feel people's eyes boring into the back of his head all the time, though.

Other than Yukihime, of course. Even now, without glancing in her direction, he could feel her stare. It wasn't the tsundere kind she'd given him before he met Nemesis, but Hiro couldn't figure out what it was. Not that he cared. He wanted nothing to do with his former childhood friend, and the fact that he knew how she felt about him only strengthened that hatred.

In his eyes, she was a hypocrite. Why would the same person who directed Tsubaki to his home later confess to him, however indirectly she'd done it? What kind of person would do that? Hiro was by no means made of glass, but every time he looked at her, he could have sworn something cracked in his head.

To put it into simple terms, he saw Yukihime as he'd once seen aliens. An irrational hatred that he knew full well was probably based on his incorrect views on things, but that he couldn't bring himself to let go of.

He did his best to avoid her at all costs now, hoping that he wouldn't even have to get involved with her anymore. He knew that she probably had as much desire as he did to kill Tsubaki, since after all, the logic side of his brain told him that it was by no means her fault, but he didn't want her to help. She wouldn't be of any use to him, since she was only a civilian with no special abilities, and was in no way connected to Tsubaki's attacks.

He certainly didn't care about her in any way. She did not meet his criteria for someone he'd consider a friend.

He shook his head to clear his thought and focus on Saero-sensei's lesson. No reason to obsess over someone he didn't care about, after all, and he had been unfocused in class increasingly often recently.

After class had finally ended, he sighed and leaned over his desk, looking over at Eve, who was, as usual, sitting on the floor next to him. He chuckled at the sight, which by now barely registered as even slightly strange to him and the other students.

He still didn't understand why she preferred sitting on the floor, Saero-sensei had offered to give her a seat multiple times, but she always refused. It was odd behavior even for her when she was Yami, and Hiro knew that she used to use the desks like any other student. He'd asked her before, but she never answered with anything that made sense. Maybe she just simply liked his company.

Eve tapped his elbow, alerting him to someone walking over to them, and he groaned, immediately recognizing her.

What did Yukihime want with him? Did she not realize how she was the last person he wanted to see?


	48. Secrets Can't Be Hidden Forever

Hiro didn't even glance at the class president, focusing on putting his notebook back into his bag. "So what do you want, Yukihime?" he asked in an annoyed tone.

Yukihime stopped walking, before sighing and setting her hands down on his desk, as she had done many times when she still acted like a tsundere, though it was clear that she didn't have the heart to do it properly from the fact that she didn't slam the wood, though that could also be due to the spiderweb cracks across that side of the desk from when Hiro had punched it weeks before.

When she spoke, it was obvious that she was trying and failing to maintain the demanding tone she'd used back then, though once again, it was painfully obvious to Hiro that she had lost her touch.

"I'm not standing aside anymore." she said firmly, and Hiro finally acknowledged her enough to glance in her direction, though from his expression it was obvious that he wasn't happy. "I want to help, and I don't care if you try to push me away. It's as much my problem as it is yours."

Hiro sighed, shaking his head and crossing his arms. "Look, I don't have a problem with you attempting to negotiate your way into a spot fighting Tsubaki, but do you really have to do it here? We're still in the classroom."

"Question, Nakamura-kun!" came a voice from beside them, and they turned to look at the boy who'd spoken, and Hiro was met with the grinning face of Okamoto Rin.

"I heard a rumor about you a while ago and was wondering if it was true!" the other student said in his usual excited voice. He glanced at Yukihime. "And I doubt it matters with you since you probably know it already too!"

Hiro blinked and Yukihime tilted her head. "What is it?" Hiro asked irritatedly. He knew there was no shortage of rumors about him and his friend group, and none of the ones he'd heard actually were even close to truth, so he wasn't particularly worried, though Okamoto tended to have a knack for picking out things from him that he didn't want to mention.

"Well...It's kind of dumb, but I've heard it claimed that you and Nemesis aren't actually cousins."

Instantly, Hiro and Yukihime both freezed, while Eve, sitting between the three, simply looked to see Hiro's reaction. Even across the room, Nemesis seemed to realize what Okamoto had said, because she too reacted as they did.

"W-What?" Yukihime asked, panic rising in her voice.

 _You idiot._ Hiro thought, glaring over at her. _That reaction just makes it obvious it's true._

He lowered his glare to face Okamoto, holding it for several seconds before the other student looked away, the result he expected from his stares. "Who told you that?" he asked calmly, though his voice held barely-concealed anger.

"Er...Nobody, really. I just overheard Saero-sensei talking to Mikado-sensei about her a while ago. I didn't really understand most of what they were talking about, but that part was pretty obvious."

"You're not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, Okamoto-san." came a voice that Hiro couldn't remember hearing in a while. A girl walked up to them from the window side of the classroom near the back. She wasn't very tall, but definitely not that short either at about 5 and a half feet tall, though her blue, almost turquoise, hair that reached down past her waist and stuck out from all sides like a pinecone made her seem shorter than she was. She wore a similar perpetually-happy expression to Okamoto's, though on her it made her seem like a child. Hiro took a few moments to try to recall her name. _Kirishima Tabane. Yeah, that's it._

Okamoto pouted to her. "Oh, come on, Kirishima-chan, that's mean!" he said, and she simply laughed and looked straight at Hiro.

"She's not only not in your family tree, she isn't human." she said blatantly. "In fact, she isn't even from this planet. Isn't that right, Nakamura-kun?"

Hiro bit his lip to hold back the sudden feeling of rage that spiked in his gut, his hands balling into fists as he attempted to calm himself down. "What do you mean?" he asked through gritted teeth. _Crap, did she really figure it out?_

Okamoto blinked, and tapped an open palm with a fist in an expression of realization. "Oh, yeah, I forgot about that whole theory!" he said.

Of course, before Hiro could confirm or deny it, Nemesis decided to shout across the room. "Yes and no, Kirishima-san. I am indeed not human, but I was in fact conceived on Earth!"

 _Seriously? You couldn't even TRY to deny it?_ Hiro thought, though he could tell from Okamoto and Kirishima's triumphant expressions that it was too late.

Well, the cat's out of the bag now. Too late to go back on it.

"See? Told you." Kirishima said smugly, crossing her arms and grinning, looking at Hiro. "Did you really think you could hide something like that from us? Honestly, this is the school well-known for the fact that 90% of the transfers are aliens, and even if that wasn't the case, there were dozens of people at the school at the time of the Darkness Incident, and I doubt anyone would forget a face like hers after the role she played in it."

Okamoto laughed. "Yeah, Nakamura-kun, the secret was kind of out before it started. We didn't ask until now because it was kind of confusing that someone with as strong xenophobia as you would be living with an alien who sparked that incident, but when Yami started following you, it got a little more suspicious."

"I was wondering when someone would mention that." Eve said from her spot on the floor, making the two other students look at her. "I had a feeling the memories of that incident had been repressed, for nobody to even mention her obvious similarity."

"..." Yukihime was silent, simply staring at the two, unsure of what to say. Neither had mentioned that she was obviously already in on the secret despite few people in the class being willing to mention it to the generally-disliked loudmouthed class president. "So everyone already knew about her?"

Kirishima nodded. "Well, obviously! We didn't, and still don't, really know what KIND of alien she is, but it's not like that really matters, right? I mean, if the guy who hates aliens trusts her, why should we care?"

"And you're not really one to talk, Yukihime-san." Okamoto said. "It was obvious you were in on it since you came back to class after Nakamura-kun passed out that one time. You weren't very good at hiding that look on your face like you'd had some sort of epiphany."

"...Was I really that obvious?" she asked, to which she only received a nod from the other students. "I'm an idiot." she said, looking down.

Hiro glared at her. "Yes, you are. Now, leave me alone. I don't need your help with anything, you will only get in my way."

"Oh, come on, Hiro-nii." Nemesis said, walking up to them. Hiro's eye twitched at the nickname, which she hadn't used in a while and he'd hoped she would never use again. She grinned at his reaction but said nothing of it. It was normal for him, after all, despite the fact that he'd obviously come out of his shell quite a lot since they'd first met. "She just wants to help, and I bet she wants revenge on Tsubaki just as much as you do."

"Tsubaki?" Okamoto asked, and Hiro glanced at him.

"She killed my parents." he said smoothly, with no expression in his voice. "Though in the news and police records she's listed a a male named Sakakibara Seito. I don't really want to give any further detail on it, but basically, I don't think she's dead."

"So you're going to go after her." Kirishima said, and he hesitated before nodding. She chuckled and turned around to walk away. "Well, I've lost interest now. Not getting involved with killing people, no matter how much they may deserve it."

"Oh, come on, Kirishima-san!" Okamoto complained. "It sounds interesting, I want to get in on it too!"

"You do what you want, it's not like we're close friends or anything, Okamoto-kun." she replied offhandedly before leaving the room to head home.

Okamoto groaned and shook his head. "She always acts so invested until she gets bored, then she just leaves…" he said, turning to face Hiro again.

"You're not getting involved." the silver-eyed kid said. "Both you and Yukihime won't be of any use, you're just regular humans, after is an alien, and a highly experienced killer at that, so I don't want to risk the lives of any more people than i have to."

One of his hands started to tap his desk, his fingers creating an angry rhythm as he slowly got more and more annoyed. "So both of you, stop bothering me. I don't need your help and I don't want it. I can take Tsubaki down without either of you getting in the way."

"Hiro-san." Eve said, and his head snapped to face hers. He was about to snap at her as well before he noticed the expression on her face.

She was staring at him, her eyes as large as she could make them in a puppy-dog expression. Or, her mostly emotionless equivalent of the puppy-dog look. It seemed that Eve still carried some characteristics of Yami.

Hiro stared at her for several seconds, before his face softened, and he let a small smile play across his features. He reached a hand to pat her head. "Sorry, I shouldn't be yelling. I should conserve my energy for training later. That reminds me, we need to start training you too so you can get used to your new abilities."


	49. The Fifth Stage of Grief

He sighed, spinning his chair around on the pivot joint in idle boredom. As always, he was staring at the many screens in front of him, as if he had nothing better to do than watch the object of his obsessions running around talking to an ever-increasing number of girls.

He chuckled, the pointed teeth that gave rise to Tsubaki's nickname for him showing below his lips. This kid, this formerly unassuming human with a dark past thanks to the eternal pest that was that Ragnarian, was slowly becoming someone the man could respect.

Even while Hiro was fighting to destroy Tsubaki, he was getting closer to most everyone around him, seemingly without even realizing it. He had conquered the three Trans within the first month of him finally getting involved, and was even seemingly worming his way into the heart of the third Devilukean princess as well.

He laughed out loud, his voice echoing through the room at the thought of a potential relationship between Hiro and Momo. "Well, better than that idiotic Yuuki Rito and Lala." he said to himself. He had many doubts about the former candidate for the project's merits, but after witnessing so much change in such a short time from Nakamura, he'd realized his mistake in getting Yuuki involved at all.

"I wonder, how would things have changed if I had interfered with Lala's Pyon Pyon whatever-it's-called to go to Hiro's home instead of that idiot's…" he mused to himself.

He shook his head. "No sense worrying about the past, what's done is done and even I do not have the power to change that. I doubt there's enough resources in the whole of the Devilukean Empire to do something like that."

He sighed and leaned back in his chair, staring at the screen that followed the little child now revealed as Tsubaki. He had little qualms with spying on someone who was physically so young, because he knew that it was a front. Camellia Vermillion, the girl whose body Tsubaki had stolen, was long since dead. The body remaining was just a husk, a vessel containing the serial killer inside.

So what should he do about her now? She had killed one of the Trans, and was no doubt planning on killing more of Hiro's allies in an effort to get to him. She was simply too dangerous to his project for him to ignore her presence, and not only that, he also had authority to kill her anyway because she had killed many more people within the Devilukean Empire's reign.

He knew his reputation wouldn't diminish if he just got rid of one little pest on a primitive backwater planet like Earth, so why didn't he just have Abbadon give the word for his other on-location spies to just go in and wipe her out?

He could do it. It would only take a single order. But he always found himself hesitating.

The project had no room for interference. There was zero tolerance for pests like Tsubaki killing off important players in the project. He had already killed a few annoyances that had been trying to get on the planet since Nemesis had first gotten involved, and yet he'd let Tsubaki slip through his fingers for almost 8 years now.

Perhaps he simply wanted to see Hiro solve this problem on his own, without the Devilukean game master's interference. He had already amassed quite a few powerful allies, from the newly-fused Eve to the Demon of Deviluke. He even had a few potentially important friends among the humans, like the girl he knew from childhood, Yukihime Murano, and the kid who'd recently decided to investigate on his own, Okamoto Rin. Both had potential, though neither really interested him as much as Hiro himself did.

So he pondered. Should he let things go and hope for the best? Or should he intervene and end it quickly? Either way, he had a feeling deep inside him that once Tsubaki made her next move, things would escalate quickly. Battle was just around the corner no matter what option he took. All that would be determined is the death toll.

Tsubaki would die no matter what choice he made. He knew that Hiro's pure, unadulterated hatred for the Ragnarian would mean that once he was through, she would be nothing but dust, but at what cost to the project? How many of this so-called 'Tsubaki's Game' would die?

On one hand, he trusted that Hiro could make the right decisions. On the other, his precious project meant everything to him, and Tsubaki would no doubt take a few enemies down with her. Once a killer, always one, as he knew very well.

Which was another source of worry. Hiro was stable for now, but who knew how his mind would be affected once he completed his lifelong goal? What would be his next move after Tsubaki was dead and gone? It worried the man nicknamed Mr. Pointy-Teeth. Surely he wouldn't turn against the allies he'd made?

But even now, Hiro was showing signs of distrust in his comrades. He could hardly stand Yukihime's presence, and he tended to ignore Momo's admittedly good advice on many of the plans he'd come up with. He had no idea what would happen if Hiro turned against them. Eve and Nemesis were cemented to his side, but what of the others? Would Rito be forced to fight him, would Lala and Momo be forced to fight each other? He hated not knowing how things would play out, but he had now made his decision.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

At home, Hiro was staring at Eve, who had at some point bought taiyaki and was calmly eating it on the couch.

"Hiro-san, why are you staring at me?" she asked, glancing at him.

He shook his head and blinked. "Just...You haven't had taiyaki in months, I forgot you liked it."

She took a bite out of the head of the fish treat and stared at him. "It hasn't been relevant to the story until now, I suppose." she said calmly.

Hiro's eye twitched. "You aren't supposed to mention that…" he said, and Eve rolled her eyes.

"Says the guy who reads To LOVE-ru manga in his free time. Don't talk to me about the fourth wall." she said, and Hiro raised his hands in resignation.

"Whatever...just try to be more subtle next time." he said, and Eve nodded.

"Anyway...why is Yukihime-san here?" she asked, pointing to the girl who'd followed them home and was currently standing nearby.

Hiro sighed, shaking his head. "Yukihime, no means no. I'm not letting you get involved. You have no place in my plan."

Yukihime shook her head. "I don't care if I'm useless to you, I just want a part to play in this. I hate Tsubaki as much as you do, I want to see her burn too, so give me something to do. Anything! I want to be of use to you!"

"I don't want-"

"Hiro, you need to learn when to listen to people." Nemesis said, walking out of the kitchen. Yet again, she had shed her clothing somewhere. God only knows how she does it so quickly. "When a girl says she wants something, you listen, no questions asked. And besides, she loves you, at least try to understand her feelings!"

Yukihime's face immediately flushed at Nemesis's choice of words, apparently left speechless by the blatant statement of her obvious views on the boy.

Hiro's response was much more blunt. "I don't care how she feels about me. To me, she doesn't exist anymore." he said, and Yukihime visibly cringed at his response.

Eve frowned. "You shouldn't be so quick to write her off, Hiro-san." she said rationally. "She knows just as much about Tsubaki as you do, and her drive is quite strong. Just because she has no special powers doesn't mean you should ignore her."

"She told Tsubaki where my family was. That's enough reason for me to kill her too, she's lucky I decided to just ignore her."

"Hiro, that's just plain cruel!" Nemesis said in shock, glancing at Yukihime, who was still managing somehow to maintain a straight face. "She regrets that, isn't that obvious? She's just trying to help!"

Hiro glared at her, before sighing, closing his eyes and rubbing his temples with his hands. "Look, I just want to kill Tsubaki as soon as possible. I don't need extraneous people getting in the way and confusing me. She has no place in the plan, so-"

"That's why you got Momo to be your planner, numbskull." Eve said, tapping his forehead with her index and middle fingers. "Because your plans are too rigid and you need someone who can manipulate them."

Hiro couldn't help but smile at her. The newly-fused Eve, especially now that she was obviously more open than before, always seemed to be able to bring a smile to his face, even when he was pissed off like he was now. It was odd, she looked no different than before, but was still obviously a completely different person.

"...Alright." he said, sighing and looking at Yukihime. "You have one chance, Yukihime. _One chance._ If you screw it up, I'm not letting you get a second one."

Yukihime's face lit up in a grin. She knew she wouldn't get much better out of the coarse leader of Tsubaki's Game, but that was all she wanted to hear. That he would let her prove her worth.

Eve smiled. "Good, let her have a chance. She might surprise you."

Nemesis nodded. "And with more people, we have more chances to take her down before she can do any more damage! I'd prefer not to lose any more of us Trans, is that a reasonable request?"

Hiro nodded. "I won't let any more of you die. Mea was Tsubaki's last victim." he confirmed. "And I won't stop until she's dead."


	50. Tsubaki's Motives

Camellia sighed to herself, laying across her bed as she often was, staring up at the notebook she often wrote in, held straight above her head by her short arms. "I'm bored…" she said to herself, lowering her arms to place the notebook over her face and splaying her arms out across the bed. "I need to get started or else I'll go insane from the waiting…"

However, she knew that she would just ignore that thought. She had been planning to 'get started' for months now, since her last attack, but she knew that there were too many variables to dive in recklessly. She had none of Mr. Pointy-Teeth's spies or intelligence network, she was all on her own, so she had no idea what was going on in Hiro's group.

"Tsubaki's Game…" she said, rolling the name on her tongue. "Idiot…" She rolled over on her side, the notebook slipping off her face and opening to a random page.

She blinked as she stared at the page, before smiling softly. "Why am I so obsessed with you?" she asked herself, looking at the surprisingly detailed full-page drawing of Nakamura that couldn't have possibly been made by a 6-year-old's hand. "Why do I even care what Mr. Pointy-Teeth does? It didn't affect me until I went after you...so why do I still continue to plot against you? Why do I want your head with such a burning passion?"

She didn't understand. She'd killed dozens, if not hundreds, of people before, of all different races and planets. She had lost track of how many lives she'd ended, though she was sure Deviluke had a complete, detailed list of all her victims.

She'd never spent more than a few days on a victim. She was a psychopath and well aware of it, but her serial killer tendencies would usually vanish if she failed to kill a victim within a week - which had only happened once or twice in her long career.

Her attempt to kill Hiro had been eight years ago. So why was she still stuck on him? Why was every thought in her head and every page on her notebook so fixated on killing him?

And why did she care? She'd never thought twice about one of her victims before, so why, now that she'd failed so dramatically, was she able to wonder why she did what she did?

Maybe it was this body. She'd never taken on a host so young before, and never a female either. She couldn't remember why she'd taken this one on in the first place, but maybe it was affecting her thought processes.

Camellia. Born Camellia Carter Vermillion in 2010, in the Sainan City Hospital, to parents both born in the United States of America. Neither of her parents understood Japanese, and despite attempting to teach her what they did know, Tsubaki, who had suppressed the child since birth, had been unable to learn more than a few words, despite quickly grasping the English language, as it was quite similar to her own Ragnarian. Japanese seemed to be a derivative of Devilukean, so maybe that was why she had such trouble grasping it. She'd never understood the Devilukean language, and didn't really want to.

So why was Camellia changing her thoughts? Was it because she'd taken her on at birth rather than in adult life? Was the fact that Camellia and Tsubaki were both female making her start to overlap with what she presumed would have been the human's thought processes?

Or was she just thinking too much into it, and it was all her doing that made her change so much? There was no way Camellia could be affecting her, she'd forced the girl's mind into a tiny corner of what she would have used. The child was probably brain dead without Tsubaki's influence, though she didn't really care how Camellia's mental state currently was.

She picked up the notebook and sat up, turning the pages, idly looking at what she'd previously written. "So what is it?" she asked herself. "What is it about you that makes me willing to stick around for this long to kill you? It can't be hate, I'm too far gone to hate anyone anymore, but it's certainly not normal for me to be so attached to one target…"

She blinked. Come to think of it, she had tried to kill him because she assumed he was Mr. Pointy-Teeth's prime candidate, exhibiting all the necessary qualities even at such a young age as 7 years old. Maybe that was why she was still attached to him, because she had assumed wrong back then, and now wished to know why. Plus, she knew that he was now the prime candidate, as Yuuki had failed to complete even a single part of the project.

However, while she knew that she _shouldn't_ care about Hiro, while she knew that she should just ignore him and move on to another victim, she also knew that she wouldn't. She would stick to him until the end, whatever that may be.

She still wanted to kill him, of course. She wanted nothing more than to screw over the project's plans, because she knew that while she'd made a mistake in judgement before, now, she knew for a fact that Hiro was the last candidate of the project. If he died...the project was a bust.

She smiled at the thought. She'd love to see the look on Mr. Pointy-Teeth's face when he realized that the project he'd worked on for who knows how long was a failure.

Oh how she'd laugh when she killed this host and hijacked another ship off this planet, to move on to another victim! That was who she was. There was no room for these doubts and questions. All she truly cared about was the killing.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

"Sir." the messenger said, bowing to the man nicknamed Mr. Pointy-Teeth.

He nodded. "So it's just a normal report, then?" he asked. "Abbadon has reported directly to me multiple times since you last came."

The messenger nodded. "Hai. Those I felt were emergency status reports, urgent enough to message electronically instead of transmitting via the network." he explained. "This is simply a status report, of little consequence in comparison to the last few." He bowed out of respect for the man in front of him, though his height meant that even bowing, he was still taller than Mr. Pointy-Teeth in his chair.

He made a toothy grin at the messenger, waving a hand for him to continue. "I understand. Continue." he said, and the messenger nodded.

"Yukihime Murano has officially joined Tsubaki's Game, under tentative conditions set by Hiro." he stated.

The man nodded. "As predicted. And Tsubaki?" he asked, sitting up. Yukihime interested him, but Tsubaki was their top priority at this stage in the plan.

The messenger was silent for several seconds as he gathered his thoughts. "Nothing of importance, sir. She has not been active at all recently. She just goes to school and comes back home like a normal human child. We did set up a bug in her room like you ordered, but so far, there has been no suspicious activity."

The man nodded. "No news is good news." he said. "Keep observing her, I have a feeling that she will make a move soon."

The messenger bowed. "And what of Abbadon, sir?" he asked.

"What of her?"

"She has maintained a comfortable distance from Hiro, but I am beginning to suspect that her relationship with him isn't quite...professional."

The man raised an eyebrow. "Meaning?" he asked.

"I'm beginning to suspect that she has begun to develop certain...feelings...for the project candidate."

The messenger wasn't sure what he expected by way of a reaction from the leader of the project, but he was knocked to the floor in surprise at the volume of the tiny man's laughter.

Mr. Pointy-Teeth practically shook in his seat as he laughed, loud and booming as his voice despite his anatomy. "Brilliant!" he exclaimed. "Absolutely brilliant! As expected of the kid who's earned my respect!"

"...Sir?" the messenger asked, coughing into a fist to regain his composure.

The man grinned, his laughter still punctuating his speech. "I had wondered when she would begin noticing him in that way." he said. "She is a healthy, growing young girl after all, and that coupled with her heritage, is all perfectly natural. But for it to be this soon after she began observing him...this is truly the work of Hiro's power! The perfect candidate indeed, perhaps he should be given the title of harem king, as that idiot Yuuki Rito was given by Momo!"

The messenger stared in confusion. "You...expected this development?" he asked.

The man nodded, his smile not fading in the slightest as he continued. "Of course. After all, she still does technically fall under the scope of the project's goals...this only provides more data for us to observe. Allow her to go about her orders as normal, and do not do anything to suggest that you suspect her. If this development is indeed true...Well, knowing that girl's history, she's sure to become all the more determined to see this through to the end."

The messenger stared, before nodding. "Assurance that she will not betray the project?" he asked, and the man laughed again.

"No, no, no, nothing like that. Even if she did decide to follow Hiro instead of me, she is still loyal to Deviluke. She would not betray me under any circumstances. Allow her to go on as normal, and do not impose any restrictions on her actions. In fact...order her to more actively follow Hiro...though she is not to get too close to him and may not reveal her identity."

"So...She may do anything she wishes as long as it does not jeopardize her mission?" the messenger asked.

The man nodded. "Exactly. You know, like one of those Earth spy movies...what was the series called again?"

"Er...James Bond, sir?" the messenger asked, and the man nodded.


	51. A Typical Nakamura House Visit

"Nemesis!" Hiro shouted angrily, chasing down the girl, wielding a pair of shorts and a shirt. "How many times do I have to tell you to put clothes on?!"

Nemesis squealed in laughter as she ran, wearing nothing but a pair of panties...more than she usually had on when this happened. "You'll have to catch me first!" she shouted back, running around the couch in order to confuse him enough that she could escape to the back of the house.

Eve had to stop in the doorway of the bathroom, hair wet after taking a shower, so she wouldn't be barrelled over by the two. The expression on her face made it obvious that she was used to this...which was strangely reminiscent of a certain Devilukean and her fiance.

She watched them pass by, shaking her head at their behavior, before walking to the front door to respond to the overly rapid ringing of the doorbell.

"Yes, yes, I'm coming." she called, unlocking the door. "Excuse Hiro-san and Nemesis, they're...busy." She opened the door and blinked, before nodding. "Oh, hello, Haruhi."

The mousy girl smiled, shifting nervously in her place. "Hi, Eve...I came to give Hiro the lessons he missed while he was out the last few days…" She held up a plastic bag filled with a large stack of papers.

"I see. Allow me to take them, he is currently a bit-" A crash came from behind her, and the two turned to see what had happened. Hiro had managed to capture the petite Trans, holding her down with his legs while he forced the shirt over her head. The laughing coming from Nemesis showed that she wasn't in the least bit scared, despite the intense expression on Hiro's face. "...busy." Eve finished, sweatdropping. "It seems that they have finished their daily game. Hiro wins, I suppose."

"This is...common?" Haruhi asked, averting her eyes from the two. Nemesis was completely flat-chested, but that didn't mean it wasn't embarrassing to look at her.

Eve nodded. "Nemesis prefers to go nude, so this is a daily routine for them...sometimes twice or more a day, if they've been training. Which reminds me…" She looked at the two. "Hiro-san! We need to go train later today!"

"Why didn't you say someone was at the door?!" Hiro asked, and in seconds, he was off of Nemesis and standing up, brushing off dirt and coughing to hide his embarrassment at how he knew he probably looked just then.

He'd managed to get the shirt on her, at least. As she stood, she relented to the fabric, adjusting it so it would be more comfortable on her. She grinned, waving to the guest.

"Haruhi-chan!" she said. "Come inside!"

"...It seems like you're busy, so…" Haruhi said, turning to leave.

Eve's hand on her shoulder stopped her, and she turned around to face the yellow-haired Trans.

"Come inside." she said. "It is Saturday, I doubt you are doing anything important...and I know your house is across the city. Stay here for a while and rest. I will take you home when you are done."

"But...aren't you busy?" Haruhi asked. "It looks like you are…"

Eve shook her head, glancing at the two. "We are not busy. Momo is visiting her father with Nana right now, so Hiro has nothing to do but train with us, I have no plans, and Nemesis…" She shook her head. "I'm sure you know this, but Nemesis isn't the type to plan anything."

Nemesis grinned. "I like to go with the flow, it's easier than all the stress you get from making plans!"

Hiro sighed. "I don't think she was complimenting you, Nemesis…" he said, but she just stuck her tongue out at him in response. He rolled his eyes, before facing Haruhi. "Anyway...It's fine for you to stay...though I won't force you to. Eve is not the master of this house, she can't tell you to stay."

"I am renting this house." Eve pointed out. "So I technically AM a benefactor. It is only Nemesis that is freeloading."

"Nemesis is paying by being a dependent." Hiro said.

"Depe-what?" Nemesis asked, tilting her head, and Hiro laughed.

"I get a biweekly income from the Japanese government." he said. "You're like my little tax deduction."

Nemesis blinked. "So...I'm actually helping? Aww, and I was trying so hard to be useless!"

Haruhi was, understandably, nervous walking into the house. Being who she was, and given the company, it was almost overwhelming...but she stepped in anyway. Hiro had allowed it, after all...and truth be told, she did want to go inside.

"Umm…" she said, before bowing. "T-Thank you for having me…"

Hiro laughed. "No problem, we're not exactly some sort of secret military base here...even with the majority of the house being aliens…"

"Technically, we are all aliens now, Hiro-san." Eve said, and Haruhi practically jumped in her skin at the wording.

Before the dandere could say anything, Hiro interrupted. "Oh, do I not count a human anymore?" he asked, and the original Trans nodded.

"You are a hybrid now, of human and Trans...and whatever Nemesis is supposed to be."

"Hey, just because I'm not made of regular matter, I have to be different?" Nemesis asked. "That's racism!" Eve gave her a hard look, and she relented, grinning. "I mean...I'm still a Trans...just not a traditional one."

Hiro put a palm to his forehead. "Is there even such thing as a 'traditional' Trans? There are literally only two or three of you...One less now that Mea's gone."

Both of them looked at him, and Nemesis collapsed to the ground, holding her stomach as she laughed. Eve, meanwhile, simply chuckled. "Hiro-san...did you really think we were all?"

Hiro blinked. "Wait...there's more of you?" he asked, and Eve nodded.

"Not many more, maybe three or four, but we are certainly not the only ones...Nemesis explained that to me when you were busy being unconscious from when you ran in front of my blade."

Hiro subconsciously rubbed his neck, where the scar from that fight still remained. "Heh...Yeah, I remember that...so if there's more of you…"

"It is unlikely that they will appear." Eve assured him. "Nemesis was not in contact with any of them, so it is doubtful that they are even in this part of the universe...and if they are, they have nothing to do with me, and it was due to me that Mea and Nemesis came to Earth."

Haruhi looked between them. _More Trans…_ she thought, before shaking her head. "S-So…" she said. "Nakamura-kun is...not human?"

Hiro nodded. "I guess so." he said, surprisingly not all that worried by it. He had already been suspecting it, confirming it wasn't that much of a shock.

Eve narrowed her eyes at Haruhi. "That reminds me...Haruhi."

Haruhi jumped. "Um...yes?" she asked, back to her usual jittery persona.

"I have been researching introductory customs since Hiro-san fused my body...and I'd like to test what I've learned on you."

Haruhi blinked. "Oh…okay?" she said, and Eve smiled.

"Don't worry, I won't drill you or anything, I just want to know if what I've learned is accurate or if it will make me sound creepy...I've been trying to lessen my creepy factor since I am not as held-back as Yami was."

"What do you-" Haruhi was about to ask, before nodding. "Right…" It was easy to forget that Eve, despite being the same body and same mind, was not Yami anymore...and it didn't help that she would still occasionally slip back into her old mannerisms, like speaking in monotone and forgetting to use contractions.

Eve nodded. "I'll just ask some questions...please answer and tell me if it's normal or not to ask them…" she said, and Haruhi nodded.

"This is going to be fun to watch...Eve's going to sound like a freaking psychiatrist." Nemesis said, and Hiro laughed.

"Yeah, probably so...She still hasn't quite shaken off her reserved way of speaking, hasn't she?"

"Hiro-san, Nemesis, I can still hear you. Please don't talk as if I'm not there."

"Oh, sorry!" Nemesis said, laughing. "It's just too easy to tease you though, even in your new form!"

"The Black Dragon hasn't quite earned her wings yet." Hiro said, grinning.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

"The first part of conversation is general information." Eve said, thinking over what she had researched. "But I already know enough about you...Umm…"

She blinked. "Come to think of it, I don't even know your given name." she said. "What is it?"

Haruhi blinked. "Uh...Saori. Haruhi Saori." she replied, sweatdropping. _Didn't she call me by my full name not a week ago?_

Eve shook her head. "No, not that name. I meant your real one." she said.

Haruhi jumped. "What do you mean? Why would I lie about my name?"

Eve stared at her for several seconds, before laughing. "I know...I was just teasing you. I do it to Nemesis too."

Nemesis glared at the other Trans, before nodding. "Because I don't have any actual name. I call myself 'Nemesis' because that was the name of the project I was spawned from." she explained.

"You just take names from anything, don't you?" Hiro asked. "You took on my surname almost immediately."

Nemesis stuck her tongue out at him. "I like it, it fits my other name. Nakamura Nemesis...sounds like an idol or something, doesn't it?"

Hiro sighed and shook his head. "Yeah, if you don't consider that 'Nemesis' means 'enemy' in English."

"Hey, it's not my fault I don't speak English!" she defended.

"Why not? I learned it as a child, and Eve's fluent in it. Surely you could learn it quite quickly."

"I don't want to learn a language that Tsubaki speaks in." Nemesis said. "I never really liked Ragnarians much, I think their body-snatching thing is kind of...I don't know, unethical."

All three looked at her, and she blinked. "What?"

"You...do realize that your Trans-Fusion is almost exactly the same as their ability, right?" Hiro asked. "We had an entire argument about this back when I found out about it."

Nemesis rubbed her hand on the cheek that he'd punched months ago. "Oh...right, that." she said, grinning. "But I give control back to my hosts, eventually!"

"...Right, because your hosts are alive." Eve said. "Remember that Tsubaki is a criminal in their society too. Ragnarians usually only inhabit corpses."

"And they don't even accept other races living on their world." Haruhi said, and in seconds, she had three pairs of eyes on her. "...did I say something wrong?"

"No, but...how do you know about their planet?...How do you even know what a Ragnarian is?"

Haruhi blinked, before her mouth opened. "Oh...uhh…"

Eve narrowed her eyes. "I thought so." she said.

"Thought what?" Hiro asked. "A lot of people in Sainan know about aliens now, I wouldn't consider it suspicious."

"That would be true...if Ragnarians weren't technically a secret race." Nemesis said. "They're only known by people tied with Deviluke or rogues of the species, and there's a big punishment for lawbreakers."

"Which means that, somehow, Haruhi is either working for Deviluke, or Tsubaki." Eve said.

Hiro blinked, staring at Haruhi, who put her hands up defensively.

"I swear, I am not working for Tsubaki!" she said. "I'm not a bad person!"

"So you don't deny working for Deviluke." Hiro said, and Haruhi's face blanched.

"Um...well…"

"It looks like my suspicion was correct." Eve said. "So I'll ask again...what is your real name?"

"It...It really is Haruhi! I am human!" she said. "Please believe me, I'm not smart enough to come up with a lie on the spot like this!"

"And your first name?" Eve interrogated, and Haruhi stared, before sighing, lowering her arms.

"...Haruhi is actually my first name…" she said. "My last is...Cortex. Haruhi Cortex."


	52. Haruhi Cortex

The Trans stared at her, openmouthed, while Hiro glanced between them, confused by their reactions. "Uhh...Is that bad?" he asked. Haruhi being some kind of alien didn't really surprise him as much as it probably should have...to be honest, he'd been suspecting that she was faking a lot of her shyness for a while now.

"Cortex...You're not...a member of the Cortex family based on Charmina, right?" Eve asked, and Haruhi looked down at the ground, before nodding.

"I'm...a hybrid, with a Charmian father and a human mother." she said.

"Charmians can interbreed?" Nemesis asked, and Eve nodded.

"There are numerous examples of it...including the Devilukean princesses, whose mother is Charmian."

"I...didn't know that." Nemesis said, blinking.

"So...you're a member of these Charmians." Hiro said. "Why are you here then?"

"The Cortex family outsource its members to Deviluke." Haruhi said. "I was sent here by…" She shook her head. "I don't actually know his name, I just follow orders."

Hiro crossed his arms. "Does this have to do with Tsubaki?" he asked, and Haruhi's breath caught, before she nodded.

"Uh...yes, it does. I'm...supposed to be tracking her movements."

"So you can help us!" Nemesis said. "It'll be good compensation for not revealing yourself earlier."

Haruhi looked between the three, looking like she just wanted to shrink now.

"I...I can't though, it's supposed to be a top-secret mission…"

"You cracked immediately." Eve pointed out. "For a spy of the Cortex family, you didn't do a very good job hiding it."

"..." Haruhi looked down. "It's because...Around Hiro, I fall apart…" she said. "I'm...not so nervous around other people…"

"Really? You seem pretty shy all the time at school." Nemesis said, tilting her head. Hiro said nothing, unsure whether he should reply or not.

"I sit behind him…"

"Do you have some kind of messaging system to this employer of yours?"

"...My codename…" Haruhi said. "...Abbadon."

BREAKBREAKBREAK

The door to the man's bedroom slammed open, jolting him awake. He sat up, bleary-eyed due to exhaustion from staying up the night before,glancing over at the sleeping form next to him to make sure she hadn't woken. He glanced beside him as the blanketed form of his wife shifted, but luckily, she settled quickly, remaining asleep despite the ruckus.

"Sir!" shouted his messenger, running next to his bedside and bowing on a knee quickly. "I apologize for interrupting your rest, but this is very important!"

"What is it?!" the man shouted in annoyance, before glancing at his wife again. Luckily, the outbursts had not woken her, and he grabbed the messenger's hand and dragged him out of the room - quite literally, as he was so short that the taller Devilukean collapsed when he jumped to the ground from his bed.

"What could be so important that you would risk disturbing my wife?!" the man shouted, after the door to the room was closed.

"Sir, it's Abbadon!" the messenger said. "She was broken!"

"...What?!" the man shouted, the first time he'd truly been angry at any of the chaos created by the project. "What do you mean?!"

"It-It was Hiro and the Trans! They cornered her, and she told them who she was!"

"How much did she reveal?!" _If she told them who I am…_

"Luckily, nothing about the project, but she did say she was after Tsubaki!"

"..." The man sighed in relief. "Good. As long as she doesn't tell them about the project…" He grinned. "Oh, one more thing." He grinned maliciously. "I'm not forgiving you for almost waking my wife." The messenger barely could stare in shock before the blade at the end of the man's tail shot forward, cutting into his chest.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

The man grumbled, back in his usual seat, turned toward the screens covering the wall. "I should have predicted this. Abbadon was already beginning to crack early on, but I ignored the signs…" He sighed and shook his head, resting his cheek on a fist as he often did.

"I really should have known this would happen." he said, and he couldn't help but grin at the situation. "Nakamura Hiro...I may have underestimated you...You truly are the perfect candidate."

He was interrupted from his musings by the door to the room opening, and he swivelled around in his chair to face the intruders.

They were two women, both looking about 20. One had yellow hair that reached to her elbows, and the other had silver hair, cut short, barely reaching her shoulders, shaped in a bowl cut and pushed out of the way of her face.

When they entered, they both bowed to the man, standing with one knee to the ground, right hands bent over their chests to form a fist over their hearts. "Master. You summoned us?" they both asked simultaneously, their voices in perfect tune with each other.

The man nodded. "Yes, I did. I trust that you are...well aware of what my project entails?"

They both nodded. "Hai, Master. We are completely under your will, after all, as we ourselves are a part of it."

He nodded. "Though your role will not come to play for a good while." he mused. "I believe that you are already aware of what happened to my last messenger?"

"He was a fool." the silver-haired girl said. "A true servant must never inconvenience their master, and must never risk waking his wife."

"A servant only matters until they have worn out their welcome, sister." the yellow-haired one stated, her voice slightly deeper than the higher-pitched silver one. "He merely overstayed his welcome, and stepped out of his bounds."

The man smiled, happy with the attitude of the two. "You are both correct." he said. "I am appointing you as my new messengers. I hope that you will do a better job than your predecessor. Now, as custom of your race, now that you have a purpose, I will give you your names."

The girls' eyes lit up, and a smile formed on their faces. "We finally are getting names, sister!" the yellow-haired one said, as the two turned their heads to face each other.

The silver-haired girl nodded excitedly. "Master deemed us worthy of purpose!" she replied, and the man laughed, coughing into his hand to catch their attention again. Their heads snapped to face him, looking up from their position still bowing to him.

He pointed at the yellow-haired girl. "You will be Kin'iro." he said, and then pointed to the silver one. "And you are now Gin'iro. Do not disappoint me as your predecessor did. You may stand."

The newly-named messengers nodded simultaneously, unfolding themselves from their crouched positions. "Sir, if I may ask…" Kin'iro stated. "What was his name? I would like to know."

The man shook his head. "He has been stripped of all his identity." he replied. "He has no name any longer, nor does he have any presence anymore. His family are unaware that he ever existed."

A grin from Gin'iro. "He deserved it, for betraying the trust of Master."

The man waved a hand. "It does not matter anymore, I am certain that you two will know your place as he did not."

The two nodded, and he grinned, waving again, motioning to the door. "Now get out, I don't want to see your faces until you have something interesting to tell me."

There was no threat in his voice. He had no reason to hold the previous messenger's punishment over their heads. They were loyal, and much more intelligent than their predecessor. He had been foolish enough to anger him; they would not make the same mistake.

He had chosen them to replace the previous for many reasons other than that. They were not simply a weak Devilukean grunt with no royal blood, they were strong. Each had their respective strengths, and they complemented each other's weaknesses. Plus, he was a man after all...and it was easier on his eyes to see two admittedly attractive women speak with him than the male before.

They bowed quickly, simply tilting their upper bodies this time instead of the full-on knee bow, before turning around to leave. He smiled as they left, watching them as they moved.

Yep...Much nicer having some women around...His eyes closed and his cheeks went pinker than they already were as he thought about them. Hey...a married man can still fantasize.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

"So this Cortex…" Hiro said, trying to figure out Eve and Nemesis's explanation. "From what you've said, it's some kind of espionage agency, based on the planet Charmina...and that makes Haruhi-chan a hybrid of Charmian and human."

The three sitting by him at the kitchen island, still damaged by Crow's appearance two months before, nodded. "So I didn't inherit any Charmian abilities...a rarity in my family." Haruhi explained, her voice still strained, though she was definitely acting more open than usual now that her cover had been blown.

"Which makes you the perfect person to use for whatever Deviluke is planning involving Tsubaki." Eve said, and Haruhi nodded. "Because without the Charmian attractiveness, you can act as a human."

"How old are you?" Nemesis asked. "You never really can tell with non-Terrans…"

Haruhi tilted her head. "Charmians age normally until adulthood, so I'm still only 15. This was my first major off-world mission…"

"And your track record?" Eve asked, and the hybrid blinked. "I used to be an assassin and often worked with Deviluke, you can't get under the radar with me."

Haruhi's mouth curled in a small smile. "I'm sure everyone in the Devilukean Empire knows you, Konjiki no Yami." she said. "You're legendary, even if nobody saw your face and lived for a long time." She shook her head. "My track record is very similar to yours. While I'm no assassin and don't have many major assignments under my belt, I've never failed a mission yet."

She seemed proud of that accomplishment, but she shifted uncomfortably. Clearly, despite her being revealed, she still was just as nervous as ever. Evidently that part of her had not been faked.

"Who exactly is this contractor?" Hiro asked. "Is it Gid? It would make sense."

Haruhi shook her head. "I can't say who it is. Cortex believes in keeping its clients anonymous...even if they are as high-profile as Lord Gid. That anonymity is something I will have to decline."

Hiro nodded. "Well...it can't really hurt not to know. If they're fighting Tsubaki, they're a friend of mine."

Haruhi giggled knowingly. "He speaks highly of Eve and Nemesis...though I'm not sure if he really cares much about you. He's more interested in Tsubaki and the various Trans than in humans." _Technically not a full lie...he isn't interested in humans. But you're not quite human, are you?_ she thought.

"As a Devilukean, he no doubt knows the identity of the other handful of Trans, doesn't he?" Nemesis asked. "I know of a couple others, but I'm sure there's more."

"I never asked him about them." Haruhi replied honestly. "I just report to his messengers, I rarely directly talk to him."

"When was the last time you contacted him directly?"

"Well...when Yukihime-san joined your group."

Hiro's face raised in a chuckle. "We call ourselves Tsubaki's Game now." he said. "Just call us that."

Haruhi laughed. "I know. Our network is well-informed. Anything relating to Tsubaki is tracked and categorized."

"Of course it is, Deviluke does certainly have the power and funding to do that. I figured we were being watched ever since the Darkness Incident." Eve said.

Nemesis laughed, reaching a hand to pat the oldest Trans' back. "Which one?" she asked jokingly, and Eve sighed in exasperation.

"The one you caused, obviously." she said, though she still cracked a smile. "'M sure Devilukean agents were crawling everywhere after it since all three of the princesses were involved...and since their crown princess ended up age regressed."

"I still don't see the biological application of that age regression thing." Hiro said, crossing his arms. "What could it possibly help?"

"It's called fanservice, Hiro-nii." Nemesis said, laughing. "People like that crap. Never saw the appeal myself."

Hiro shook his head. "It seems unnecessary...but I guess Deviluke has all kinds of pointless traits. I mean, their biggest weak spot is easily hit!"


	53. Haruhi's Promise

"My king." stated Zastin, standing before the two thrones in the Royal Palace of the Devilukean Empire, in the heart of the titular home planet.

Gid Lucione Deviluke looked down on the messenger with his usual irritated look, clearly not interested in what the messenger had to say, though in the throne next to him, his queen, Sephie Michaela Deviluke, looked sympathetically at the general-slash-mangaka who had been tasked with caring for the three princesses on Earth.

"What do you want, Zastin?" Gid asked in a bored tone. "I don't care about your manga, and I don't want to hear another complaint about that girl who constantly follows you around."

Zastin swallowed, shaking his head rapidly and waving his hands in front of him. "N-No, this has nothing to do with that!" he said. "Tenjouin-sama and Saibai-san are unrelated to this."

"Then what is it? Obviously it was important for you to decide spending four months coming here rather than just sending a message." the king of the universe grumbled. "Honestly, even I do not bother coming all the way here myself."

It was true. Neither he nor Sephie were really there. Rather, the people sitting in the chairs were stand-ins, perfectly matching their counterparts' personalities and memories, connected to the real ones via some advanced Devilukean technology of an unknown name. Zastin, however, did not have such technology, and had to physically go there in his ship.

"It is regarding a worrisome development within the empire that I have noticed." Zastin said, bowing to his knee before the king. Despite his obvious urgency, he still knew to follow proper respect, else he'd risk being punished by the easily annoyed ruler.

Gid shrugged, evidently not worried despite the potential meaning of Zastin's answer. "Continue. You have proven yourself trustworthy to me many times, I will listen to your word." he promised, though it was just a formality. Regardless of whether or not he actually trusted the other man, he'd still have said it...though in this case, the feeling was sincere. He liked Zastin, he was a loyal and honest soldier, and was really the only one he trusted to lead his daughters' bodyguards.

"While I was going to Doctor Mikado to remove a dog from my leg gauntlet-" Gid raised an eyebrow, but didn't interrupt. "-I happened to overhear two people, one of which was Devilukean, discussing what sounded like some sort of espionage. Their words made me concerned that there may be a shadow organization growing within Deviluke's realm...and it may be a very powerful one if the leader of the project they were working on is a high-ranked official...though I did not have enough information from their conversation to judge that."

Gid's bored expression changed, though not to one of surprise. Rather, he just sighed, closing his eyes and shaking his head. "Zastin."

The general stiffened. "H-Hai, sir?" he asked, worried about the toneless voice his king had spoken in - a voice he rarely used, and when he did, it usually meant trouble.

"Are you an idiot?" Gid asked, and Zastin blinked.

"W-What do you mean, my king?" he asked nervously, and Gid sighed again.

"I am the most powerful man in this universe." the emperor stated. "And I lead the largest and most advanced intelligence network this side of the Universal Leyline. Do you really think I wasn't already aware of everything you just told me, and do you honestly think I have not thought of the possibilities of such a shadow government?"

Zastin stared. "So...you knew already?" he asked, and Gid growled in irritation.

"Of course I knew! I know everything that is going on in my reign! I know the names, species, ages, motivations, and plans of every member of the organization you happened upon! Do you doubt my omniscience?!"

His hand gripped the arm of his throne, his knuckles turning white as he let out his anger into the leather. Zastin eeped, his face blanching at the anger in Gid's voice.

Sephie rested her hand on Gid's, and the effect was almost immediate, his anger dying down as he looked at her.

She flashed him a smile, and he stared, her natural calming aura washing over him. "It's alright, dear." she said. "Just be calm, anger is unnecessary. Caution is important, and Zastin was right in his decision to notify you, even though he did forget your power. He has been on Earth for a long time now, it is understandable that he would begin to forget the life he lead here."

Gid looked at her, before sighing. "You're right." he said, closing his eyes and inhaling deeply. "I apologize, Zastin. I allowed my anger to get the best of me again."

Zastin smiled, though he was still pale-faced. "I understand, sir. It is not uncommon for you, after all." He bit his lip, hoping the accidental insult would blow over the man's head.

Luckily for him, Gid was now in a far better mood, Sephie's calming energy doing wonders for his personality, and he let out a hearty laugh, his small body shaking in delight.

"This is why I like you, Zastin!" he exclaimed. "You do not know when to shut up! Yes indeed, I have far too much rage, and I am glad that you are brave enough, or stupid enough, to point it out!"

BREAKBREAKBREAK

Hiro stared at Haruhi with the intense silvery glare only he could accomplish. The poor dandere looked even smaller than usual as she wilted under his gaze.

"W-Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked, as Hiro tapped his chin with a finger.

"You're working for Deviluke." he said. "And you're also connected to Tsubaki."

The girl looked confused, before Eve nodded. "Why not join us as a member of Tsubaki's Game?" she asked. "You'll probably go off and tell whoever's controlling you everything we're doing...but we're not your enemies, at least not yet. We want Tsubaki dead and so do you, right?"

"Y-Yes…" Haruhi said. "I...I guess I could help you, if my client gives me permission…"

"There's one thing you need to promise though." Nemesis said, and the girl looked at her curiously.

"What is it?" she asked. "Cortex members always keep their word…"

Nemesis stared at her with an impossible to read expression, before her face broke into a grin.

"Promise that Hiro gets the final blow." she said. "He has the most drive out of all of us to kill her, and he has more personal reasons than all of us as well."

Haruhi blinked, before laughing nervously. "R-Right...I'll try...but I'm just a spy, I can't guarantee anything…"

"Just do your best, that's what we're all doing." Hiro said, smiling and holding his hand out. "Welcome to Tsubaki's Game."

She smiled, accepting the handshake, her hand trembling with her obvious nerves.

"S-Sorry I'm so nervous all the time…" she said. "It's just-" Hiro's raised hand cut her off.

"Don't worry about it, I understand. How you feel about being on Earth, your thoughts on our little group, and how you feel about me."

Her face went pink as he said that, but she nodded quickly. "T-Thank you, for not being angry at me…"

BREAKBREAKBREAK

Tsubaki sneezed, and Camellia's mother cooed as she removed the tissue.

The woman touched her forehead to the child's, checking her temperature, and Tsubaki silently thanked her race's physiology for copying its host completely.

"You definitely have a fever." the woman said sympathetically, pulling out another tissue and handing it to the girl.

Tsubaki accepted the tissue, thanking her host's mother as sincerely as she could make herself sound. This was annoying. She was just about to get started on her plan, and now she had a freaking head cold!

A curse of Ragnarians: They could get whatever diseases their hosts could, and she felt the full effects of it. The added strain on her body meant she had to try extra hard to prevent the original consciousness from accidentally slipping to the forefront.

She couldn't believe it. 6 years of being tied to this body, and she'd never once gotten sick. Then one sloppy little kid at the school Camellia went to, and now she was bedridden. Great. How was she supposed to attack Hiro now?

She smiled at the woman. An actual, genuine smile, despite her usual inability to care. Such a fool for not noticing that her daughter wasn't actually her daughter...but she still cared for Tsubaki as if she was her own. The criminal wondered if she would be treated the same way had she known who she really was.

"I'll go out and get some cold medicine later." the girl's mother said, smiling sadly and wrapping the child in a warm embrace. "Oh, poor baby, you must feel awful…"

Tsubaki was no stranger to the show of affection humans often did, but it felt...different this time. This was her first child body, she had never experienced the kind of affection only a mother could give…

It felt nice. That was the only way she could describe it. And that, then and there, was when Tsubaki decided that she would not kill this woman when Hiro was dead.

She liked the woman, she liked the care she showed to her child, she liked the hugs. Don't get her wrong, when she was done, her host would have an unfortunate accident and she'd find a new body...but she would allow the woman to live and grieve for the child.


	54. Tsubaki's Sickness

This cold was getting ridiculous.

It had been nearly a week now since she'd gotten it, and she was so drained of energy that she could barely get out of bed. Curse her connection to this body, she still needed it!

Not that she could kill Camellia right now, there was nothing nearby and it was physically impossible to choke herself. All she could do right now was draw in the notebook she always had.

Her drawings were comforting. They made her feel like she was actually accomplishing something despite being unable to move more than a few feet before collapsing. Sure, all of them were of the same person being killed in various ways...but it helped calm her anyway.

She still hadn't figured out why she was so obsessed with Hiro. She'd been stuck on planning around him for so many years now, yet she didn't feel the same thrill of the hunt that she usually did when chasing down a victim.

There was no benefit to her in killing the boy. Sure, Deviluke would be thrown into chaos with his death due to his role in Mr. Pointy-Teeth's stupid project, but she didn't give a crap what happened to Deviluke. A Ragnarian is next to impossible to capture, since they can kill their hosts and become free-floating when separate from a body, so she doubted that Deviluke, even with all its resources, would be able to catch her, even if they most likely were keeping tabs on her even now.

She grit her teeth. She was at her weakest right now. She couldn't move and her mind drew a blank for how she could kill her host should the event arise. She'd just have to hope that that idiot decided to let Hiro do things for him.

That was most likely going to be the case. He had a track record for staying out of directly influencing things and letting problems resolve themselves. So she was probably safe for the time being.

Then there was Yami. She had no doubt after witnessing Darkness that the Trans would be relentlessly hunting for the child, and as a fellow assassin, she knew the millennia-old girl would put matters into her own hands...and no amount of planning would be enough for Tsubaki to fight against that raw power.

Tsubaki may be highly intelligent, but sometimes, brains lose to brawn. The thought worried her, but she knew that she had a very real chance of her host being killed halfway through the fight.

It didn't matter too much, since she was immortal...but it wouldn't be very helpful if her hosts got killed every time she tried to fight the blonde.

Her main hope was, ironically, Hiro. Despite his no doubt utter hatred of the serial killer, she knew that he'd hesitate to injure her host. This was the main reason why she chose to bear with this sickness rather than just stab herself with a fork when the girl's mother came in. Having the body of a young child was advantageous in many ways.

It helped that she still had her full strength despite being so small, as she'd proven when she snapped that girl's neck last time she saw them.

Mea had been a prime target for her ever since she first noticed them collecting around her goal. A second generation Trans, one of the most recent successful models, her Psycho Dive would have been very problematic...as proven when she was able to oust Nemesis from her body.

If that ability had been turned on her, she had little doubt that the magenta-haired girl could rip the Ragnarian from Camellia's body, and she couldn't predict what she could do with the free-floating spirit. She had too little information on the Trans to judge that, she hadn't hacked Deviluke's information bases in a long time.

Another annoying thing about this world. It was a backwater planet, out of Deviluke's reach. There was no universal information highway here, they didn't even have warping technology like the rest of the universe. She was essentially stranded here until she'd completed her goal and found a ship to steal.

Maybe she'd take the _Lunatique_ , Yami's personal ship, after killing the assassin. Sure, it would be difficult to accomplish that, but the poetic irony was too much for her to ignore.

Yes, that's what she'd do. Once she'd gotten over this irritatingly painful illness, she'd get started with her plan.

She'd wasted enough time as it was, she could have attacked months ago when they were still in chaos over her last attack. They'd no doubt prepared much more now...and she had little counterplan if Darkness appeared again.

No matter. Enough planning. She'd go the way of Yuuki Rito and go into it with no foreknowledge of what would happen. This time, she'd go directly for Hiro, ignoring everyone else. It shouldn't be difficult to take him down by surprise, and he was the only one she really cared about. Let the others kill her host, let them grieve, she didn't care anymore.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

A quick glance behind him told Hiro that Haruhi was back to her usual dandere self, practically shaking in her seat as she glanced around the room, everywhere but at him.

 _So this is the facade she puts up._ he thought, smiling. _It's pretty realistic, she must have practiced it for years._ He wasn't quite sure if he liked that thought, but it seemed to hold true nonetheless.

He was interrupted from his thoughts by Saero-sensei clapping his hands together to get the class's attention, and surprisingly, the room went silent.

Hiro smirked. Usually, it took all of the poor instructor's willpower to get a handle on his class, but Hiro knew of the event coming up, as everyone else did. Well...everyone except maybe the scattering of aliens in the class, though he assumed Haruhi was aware of it since she acted more human than the others...to the point that she'd fooled him for the whole semester before she'd cracked.

"Class, I'm sure you are all perfectly aware already, but the semester is drawing to a close." He was cut off by a collective cheer, which died off quickly so he could finish. "Of course, you will be having exams soon...I hope you all have been studying."

He, along with the rest of the class, glanced at Hiro, who laughed nervously.

"Hey, I've still managed to keep on top of it despite all the crazy stuff at my house." he said. "And I'm pretty sure Nemesis is taking things seriously."

A particularly loud affirmation from the tiny girl, and Eve nodded from her spot on the floor next to him. "And I memorized the curriculum already...So I'd have more free time."

Saero-sensei sweatdropped, as did Hiro. "That's...good, Eve-chan." he said. "Even though you're part of Tearju-sensei's class, not mine…"

"I already took the exams for her class."

The elderly teacher blinked, before nodding, waving a hand in resignation. "Well, anyway, Tearju-sensei does tell me that you're an exceptional student, though you rarely participate in class activities...Anyway, moving on from Nakamura-san's household…"

As he continued talking about the exams, Okamoto leaned over to Hiro, a grin that made his intentions obvious playing across his face.

"So what's it like, living with so many girls? Plus I hear Momo-senpai comes by a lot too…"

Without skipping a beat, Hiro responded. "Stressful. Eve's messy, Nemesis is clingy, and Momo's too talkative."

Okamoto hummed. "That's no fun, Nakamura-kun." he said. "Though I can understand with Momo. When she gets fired up about something, she's really dominating...or so I've heard from the juniors. Any progress to that plan?"

Hiro blinked, before nodding. He'd forgotten that Okamoto was aware of Tsubaki now. "A little...though Eve hasn't been able to locate her yet."

Okamoto nodded. "I know I'm probably useless since I don't have any fancy Trans abilities or whatever it is Momo has...but I can give you some advice, I think."

Hiro raised an eyebrow to signal that he was listening.

"Don't bother looking for her." he said. "From what little I do know, she's still after you...that much was obvious when she killed Mea." Hiro felt a twinge in his chest as he was reminded of the goofy magenta Trans. "So I'd say...just wait for her, and be prepared. Then again…" He pointed at Eve, then at Nemesis, who tilted her head as she noticed him. "You've sort of got early warning systems in those two."

Eve giggled, a sound that Yami would have never made. "I'm not sure I like being complimented by you, but thanks for the confidence."

Okamoto grinned, rubbing the back of his head. "That hurts, Eve-chan…" he said, in a tone very similar to the best friend of a certain Devilukean's fiance.

Eve grinned, and Hiro smiled at the interaction. "Eve, you've really come out of your shell, haven't you?" he asked, and Eve looked up at him, a smile spread across her face.

"All thanks to you, Hiro-san." she replied.

He laughed. "I only fused you and Darkness, you're the one who's been opening up."

Okamoto blinked. "Wait...Eve is Yami and Darkness?!" he asked. "But that means she's-"

"Perfectly safe." Hiro interrupted. "Well...unless you're training with her and she forgets to hold back...but that's a story for another time."


	55. School Bells

"So how exactly do these 'exams' work?" Nemesis asked, laying on the seats of two chairs pulled out from the kitchen table.

The three permanent residents of the Nakamura house were just lounging around right now, having little to do except study...and no high-schooler would want to study right after school ended, even with the semester exams coming up. Meanwhile, Momo was visiting again, blissfully ignoring the group as she got a juice from Hiro's refrigerator.

"They're basically just like the tests we've had, except they cover all the material since December. You'll do fine." Hiro replied. "Except maybe in English, you still have a lot of trouble with that."

"Well, sorry for not growing up with bilingual parents like you!" the tan girl complained, and Hiro shook his head with a smile.

"Eve is fluent and she didn't have any parents, other than Tearju-sensei." he pointed out, and Eve laughed.

"I can't really count, I was programmed to be able to speak most of the languages used by more than 15 million people, of all planetary habitations. So...multilingual doesn't even begin to cut it for me."

"Yeah, yeah, you're C3PO, no need to brag." Hiro said, waving a hand. "And Nemesis, aren't you fluent in Devilukean too?"

"That doesn't really count, it's almost the same as Japanese except there's more letters!"

Hiro laughed, leaning back in the couch, which he laid horizontally down, his feet hanging off the edge and his head resting on the other armrest. He was holding a volume of a manga that very clearly depicted the iteration of Darkness that he'd dubbed Demon on the front cover.

As usual, Eve complained about him breaking the fourth wall by reading that, and as usual, he didn't care. It was fun to read and sort of pertinent to the situation at hand, as they waited for Tsubaki to make her move.

He'd taken Okamoto's advice. It made sense to conserve energy lying in wait...and Hiro had a feeling that midterms would be a turning point, regardless of whether she did attack or not.

So it was that they waited for the exams, spending the days only marginally involved in Tsubaki's Game. Even Hiro put it out of his mind for the time being, the normal exam-induced stress taking precedence, until the exam day itself finally came.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

The room was completely silent, but for the sound of rustling papers as tests were passed down the rows. Saero-sensei sat quietly in his seat, a book in hand, having little to do during the actual exam.

Hiro hadn't bothered to bring his pack, seeing no need. He was confident in his understanding and he really didn't need the deadweight around if Tsubaki did make her move...Though thinking about it, since she was in such a young body, she had her own school to go to as Hoshigaki Elementary, the lone middle/primary school in the town, was still open, as their midterms weren't for another few weeks, according to Mikan, and he doubted she'd ruin her image so easily by skipping on whatever day she decided to attack on.

So he let himself focus on the papers in front of him, one for each of their classes. Having them all on the same day cut down on all the preparations for the exams...and to be fair, it was nicer to the students just to have them take everything on one day and be able to stay away the rest of the week.

He glanced where Eve usually sat, smiling to himself at the empty space. It seems she was at least aware that she wasn't needed in the room, and had made herself busy somewhere else. Good, he didn't really need her constantly poking his arm distracting him during this test.

He held his pencil on the paper, staring at the first question, shutting off all thoughts of unrelated things. He had to focus now...and he had a feeling that if Tsubaki did attack, Eve would warn him before it happened.

 _Let's see...Oh, Shinto era, I was just tutoring Nemesis on this yesterday._ He glanced at the object of his thoughts, who was furiously writing on her test...and from the looks of it, she'd nearly finished all of it already. Hiro sweatdropped. _We just started five minutes ago, I hope she's actually trying…_

No, she may be excitable and carefree, but she was still a very intelligent person...as to be expected out of a Trans, even one as...special as she was.

He took a break from his test to look at his hand, sighing. _She's made of dark matter...so what does that make me?_ he wondered.

Well, no reason to worry about it, right now he had to focus on Shinto vs. Taoist cultists in Akiba.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

The class was dead silent but for the sound of pencils scratching on paper, save for the occasional groan and heads meeting tables at some frustrating question or another.

Hiro wasn't having too much trouble, but he wasn't flying through the test either. He could be going faster, but he also had to consider that he was walking Nemesis home like he always did, and she would no doubt take much longer on the English portion than him.

It still seemed slightly unfair that he was even taking the class considering he'd been fluent in English since childhood, but he didn't really mind. It was an easy A thanks to that, after all.

Someone knocked on the door, and Hiro barely glanced at it before going back to his test, though Nemesis seemed more interested...she was probably frustrated by some question and wanted a distraction, though it was probably Tearju-sensei or Principal Dunois asking about something. Were there even any other teachers at this school?

Saero-sensei walked to the door, his footsteps louder than normal thanks to the lack of communication in the room, and quickly exited the room, closing the door behind him, his body obscuring who it was.

Hiro sweatdropped at Saero-sensei's voice, easily audible in the quiet of the room despite the door blocking it. _You do realize you're being very loud, right?_ he thought.

"Shouldn't you be at your own school?" the teacher asked, though Hiro couldn't actively hear the response since he wasn't really trying to eavesdrop, and he was on the other side of the room from the door. "Closed? And why are you here, then?"

Another moment of silence as the other person replied, before Saero-sensei walked back in, the other person still hidden by his body. "Eh...Nakamura-san, someone is here for you."

"I haven't finished my test though." Hiro said, suddenly more interested. Who did he know that went to another school?

Saero-sensei shrugged. "You can finish it tomorrow." he replied, before turning to the class. "Please ignore this interruption, I think we all know that Nakamura-san has...special circumstances."

"You mean he's the freshman version of Yuuki Rito." someone said, and a collective snicker came from the class.

Saero-sensei sighed. "To be simple, yes." he replied. "Nemesis-chan, I assume you're going with him?"

Nemesis nodded, standing up and setting her test down. "I stick by him, we're halves of a whole after all!"

After they discovered that most of the class already knew Nemesis was an alien, they'd decided to explain how Hiro was her primary host body now, along with a somewhat graphic description of what it's like living in Hiro's head, courtesy of the tiny Trans.

The class had taken the news pretty well, and pretty much chose to ignore it...as long as they didn't do it during class, after someone nearly passed out from Hiro's eyes going in different directions, the gold eye of Nemesis taking over one of the sides.

Saero-sensei waved them off, taking the unfinished tests off their desks and glancing at them.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

"So who would be calling for us in the middle of the exams?" Hiro asked, looking at Nemesis as the door closed.

"Kanickiwa, Hiro!" came the voice of a child, in awful Japanese, and the two blinked, turning to face the source of the voice.

Hiro's face blanched, before his expression turned to a frown. "Well...looks like Okamoto-kun was right, I didn't have to look for you."

Nemesis's normal happy expression vanished as she recognized the child in front of them. "You don't look all that good, you sure you're ready to fight us after waiting so long?"

Her tone wasn't sympathetic in the slightest, but it was definitely true. The girl's face was flushed, and she was sweating, a short trail of snot coming from one of her nostrils, and her eyes were watery and bloodshot.

Tsubaki growled in annoyance. " **I got a cold from one of the idiotic kids at Hoshigaki." she complained. "I'm honestly surprised I was able to sneak past that woman who serves as this host's mother. I'm not really supposed to be out of bed for another few days...But I'm ticked off anyway, and I'm sick of waiting. I'm going to kill you now, Nakamura Hiro.** "


	56. Attack of the Loli

**Well, here we are. The 100th chapter. I never thought I'd get this far in any story (even though the chapter length is very short)!**

 **I know popularity has dropped as it got longer, but for those who are still here after such a long time, thank you!**

 **This chapter is marking the return of longer chapters as well, so I apologize if it seems a bit choppy, as I was using it to transition from the more low-detail EE format to the more event-oriented KoC format. Just shoot me a review or PM if you have any complaints about the change!**

Regular text = Japanese

 **Bold Text = English**

 _Italicized Text =_ Thoughts

' _Italics in quotes_ ' = Trans-Fused Nemesis

* * *

"I don't understand English, so mind translating for me?" Nemesis asked, and Hiro nodded, laughing as the three walked to the door out of the school.

"Yeah, sure. **Hey, Tsubaki...You're being pretty compliant, I expected you to attack immediately.** "

The tiny girl shrugged. " **The hallway's too small to move very much, and I've been chasing you for years...I want to drag this out. Probably not the smartest idea, but I'm ticked off by this stupid cold...Plus, that annoying Yami isn't here, I don't have nearly as much to worry about.** "

He turned to Nemesis. "Basically, she doesn't want to destroy the school." he paraphrased, and Nemesis laughed.

"How nice of her." she said.

As they walked, they talked, Hiro translating between the two, occasionally complaining in both languages about their inability to speak the others' tongue. Anyone who didn't know the child next to them would likely mistake it for a conversation between friends.

Of course, not everyone they passed by was a stranger, and a loud shout broke their attention from an oddly detailed conversation about Steins;Gate physics.

The shout had come from Nana, who stood still, pointing at Tsubaki, her eyes wide, and next to her, Momo had donned a similar expression.

Hiro grinned. "Yo, we found her. Well...she found us. Lucky for the building, she agreed that we'd fight outside. Care to join us?"

"Hiro-san, why are you so calm about this?! Isn't that Tsubaki?!" Momo exclaimed, and he nodded.

"Oh, don't worry. I'm not calm in the slightest. It's taking a lot of willpower not to attack her right now...But none of us wants to damage the school, so we have to hold back." He patted the girl's head, and she glared up at him, swatting his hand away. He just smiled at her and looked back at Momo. "Don't worry...I'm not planning on holding back. As soon as the fighting starts, I'm going all out. You know how I feel about her."

" **I'm not really sure what you just said, but I'll just assume you were insulting me.** " Tsubaki said, and Hiro laughed.

The twins joined them as they walked, Momo glaring at the back of Tsubaki's head the entire time.

"I know you don't understand me, but I really, really hate you for what you did." Nana said, her famous anger obvious in her voice. "You killed my best friend. I'll return the favor."

Tsubaki looked back, grinning and holding up two fingers in a v-sign. " **I can't understand words, but emotion is universal, even for a psychopath like me!** " she replied.

" **I think there's nobody here who doesn't want you dead.** " Hiro said, and Tsubaki simply stuck her tongue out at him, grinning as she did so...an action he pretty much expected.

It felt like forever before they finally got outside, standing in the open area in front of the school. It was in a bit of an obvious location...but then again, if Eve noticed them fighting, wherever she was, then she could get here and help.

Regardless of if Eve came or not, all that mattered was killing her. His reasons could be explained later, and while Hiro did feel a bit of a pang in his chest at hurting a child, he knew that Camellia had probably long since been killed by the parasite that had invaded her body.

He doubted he could kill her himself, but he luckily had Nemesis with him, and he knew from Nemesis's description of the Darkness Incident that the twins were very much capable of fighting for themselves...and Tsubaki, despite being immortal, was nowhere near as physically strong as Darkness, if her reaction when Crow came out was any indication.

Tsubaki grinned. "Yu...ko?" she said, and Hiro laughed.

" **I think you mean 'Yukō'**." he said, and she tilted her head.

" **I was trying to say, 'Let's go'.** "

He nodded. " **Yeah, that's right.** " He turned to Nemesis. "Alright, ready?"

Nemesis nodded. "This fight seems oddly formal considering how long she's giving us to prepare...She really must be frustrated from being gone for so long!" she said, before her body vanished, replaced by a black mass of dark matter, which directed itself toward Hiro, sinking into his body as her Trans-Fusion activated.

' _Just give me one eye, I don't need both. Let me handle her mid-range attacks, if she has any._ '

Hiro nodded. _Keep focused on the twins too, make sure you don't hit them._

' _I'm not that clumsy with my Trans-Fusion!_ Nemesis complained, and he laughed.

"Got your plan set up with your little headmate?" Momo asked, grinning, and he nodded.

"We'll handle her close- and mid-range, you two stay back and do your Devilukean things."

The two nodded, and Hiro grinned again, turning back to face Tsubaki.

He blinked. She was...gone. When had she-

' _Hiro!_ ' Nemesis shouted into his head, and he felt something slam into his back, causing him to fall forward. He would have fallen flat on his face if Nemesis hadn't directed his leg to catch his fall, her reaction time much quicker than his.

He turned around, but Tsubaki had already vanished again. Momo and Nana had gotten into a battle stance, both holding out the phones he recognized as the D-Dials that they always carried, though neither had pressed a button.

"Did you see her?" Nana asked, and Momo shook her head.

"No, she hit so fast I didn't even have time to realize she'd moved…"

Hiro grunted as he stood up. "Looks like she has less limitations than we thought...How can someone so young hit so hard?!"

" **I'm not young.** " came Tsubaki's voice, and Nana shouted as she was bowled over, though yet again, by the time he was looking, Tsubaki had vanished again.

" **I'm barely a child in Devilukean terms, but I am older than most of your humans.** "

Another strike, and Nana was hit again, and Momo crouched to help her stand, before she too was knocked over by the freight train of Tsubaki's attacks.

Hiro stared through his silver eye, the gold one rapidly moving around separately as Nemesis frantically scanned the area. He didn't interrupt her with any thought-messages, he knew she had the best chance of all of them to figure out what was going on.

' _Ragnarians have never been able to do that, they've always had to follow the physical guidelines of their host bodies...How is she moving without us being able to see her?_ '

 _Something's going on, and why is she targeting them?_ he thought, gritting his teeth. _If I can just predict her movements…_

Easier said than done. He stood stock still, their eyes focused on the twins, who by now were looking a bit worse for wear, but they were still holding their own. They didn't need his intervention yet...not that he could do anything, when he didn't know where the tiny girl was attacking from.

There wasn't even a blur of motion before each attack. What was going on?

His eyes widened. So this was why she'd let them get prepared before they started...She already knew their limitations, and she'd been confident in her own abilities…

That was why she was so cooperative in choosing to fight outside the school instead of inside. It was because she wasn't going to lose either way.

She'd set them up for failure, and he hadn't even realized it.


	57. Bound to the Body

**Sorry for the slower uploads for this and KoC. I recently went to the dark side and finally watched Pupa, and I absolutely loved it! I've been gathering information for a fanfic I recently started for the series, so I've been lowering priority on the other two most active of my stories...though I will continue them, hopefully as often as normal!**

* * *

Momo grit her teeth, tapping the keys on her D-Dial. "We need something that can match her speed!" she said.

Nana evidently had the same idea, her hands moving on her own phone. Hiro stood still, the golden eye controlled by Nemesis desperately rolling around as the Trans attempted to catch any sign of the Ragnarian's movements.

" **Nope, you don't need any help!** " the sourceless voice of the psychotic child said gleefully, and the twins' eyes widened as, with two consecutive strikes, the devices were shattered, both snapped at the joint between the screen and the keyboard.

"She...She broke it?!" they said simultaneously, before shouting in surprise as Momo was bowled over, sending her flying into her sister and leaving them both in a heap on the ground.

 _Now!_ Hiro shouted in his head, and in a flash, a strand of his hair extended in the typical Trans fashion, zipping forward with the deadly accurate aim of one well-versed in killing. Or, in this case, Nemesis, who had never actually killed anyone directly.

Nemesis was a failed experiment. Hiro knew it, she knew it, the twins did, and Tsubaki probably was aware. She was unable to produce the blades that Yami and Mea could, and she always had to consciously be aware of her body at all times lest she turn to dark matter.

But let it not be said that Nakamura Nemesis was weak. Not being able to produce blades was only a small weakness, every other ability the Trans could wield, she could as well. Her intellect was just as high, if not higher, than Eve's, and she could control the Trans hair as well as Mea.

In addition, she was residing in Hiro's body, and he was one of the smartest humans she knew...and his luck was such that even his stupidest decisions would turn out right.

This was no exception. As the tip of the strands Nemesis sent out broadened into a large sphere, as black as their hair and several inches in diameter, the tiny body of the alien they were fighting slammed into it from their left.

The twins had been staring at the ground in fear of an attack they had known would be coming, as they were both defenseless tangled together like they were, and so completely missed seeing the loli ramming into the sphere (which Nemesis would later say was boring, but she hadn't had enough time to create a mace shape), coupled with a loud shout of pain that was notably missing the voice of the child whose body the alien had stolen.

Hiro grinned as Nemesis directed the sphere towards Tsubaki using the strands of hair attached to it, pushing her away from the twins and smashing her against the ground, pinning her under the sphere and allowing the Devilukean princesses enough time to stand.

Momo was back to a fighting stance almost as soon as she'd gotten to her feet, but Nana was looking much more worse for wear. She was trembling, her knees visibly shaking and her eyes as wide as dinner plates. Her mouth was stuck into a ragged line, and she was sweating from the terror she obviously felt at the tiny alien.

Hiro understood her fear. Tsubaki was proving to be a very difficult opponent, even with her small host body.

But he didn't fear her. He hated her so much that his anger overrode any sort of other emotion at the psychopath, and he knew that Nemesis felt the same way. After months of being teamed up like this, she'd picked out all of his memories (something he wasn't sure he appreciated), and she knew exactly the sort of emotional damage the Ragnarian had done to him throughout his life.

She was the reason he had become withdrawn, why his unusual silver eyes became a symbol of hatred, why he'd driven away Yukihime and taken to a solitary life.

Nemesis hated Tsubaki for that. Hiro was her savior, the person who had found her and healed her despite his prejudices, and who had allowed her asylum in his home for so long. She hated Tsubaki for taking away so much from him.

His parents. His sister. His life. They were all shattered by the girl in front of them, the girl who she'd successfully trapped in her grip.

When Hiro walked to the pinned girl, he was not controlling his legs. He only glared at her, the eye he controlled blazing with a hateful glare directed at the girl's brown eyes. Instead, his legs were powered by the anger of the other being in his head, the same one who gradually pushed the sphere down farther into the ground as they walked forward.

Tsubaki cringed in pain, before grinning up at them, only briefly glancing at Momo, who now was holding Nana up, the girl's terror having taken over by now, leaving her unable to even stand on her own.

Hiro's enemy knew that Momo was not a threat, with the weight of her sister in tow, so she ignored them, turning her head to face the combined Hiro and Nemesis's head. She tried to shift her position, but when she was trapped in a crater on the ground beneath a Trans-created object like this, no position could be considered comfortable. If anything, she was lucky her ribs hadn't cracked.

" **I'm surprised, you really didn't hold back. You really don't care about hurting this body, do you?** " That had been her main advantage to this body, if Hiro's morals weren't coming into play...its usefulness had ended. She frowned at the thought, but her expression quickly became a grin at the shadow that passed over Hiro's face.

" _Well, here's a good thing about being in your head...everything's translated for me!_ " Nemesis mused in his mind.

Hiro mentally smirked. _Attribute it to plot convenience._ he thought back, before returning his attention to Tsubaki.

" **I don't care about your body. Camellia is long dead, don't try to fool me. I don't need to hold back to protect an innocent child when you killed her already.** "

Tsubaki's grin remained wide. " **Such cold logic...If only you were correct.** "

" **What do you mean?** " Nemesis asked through Hiro's mouth.

Tsubaki would have shrugged if her arms weren't pinned by the sphere. " **Ragnarians can't kill their host mind without killing the host itself. If I destroyed Camellia's mental state, then I would be ejected from this body and be forced to bind to it again...and I really don't like corpses. I enjoy suppressing their minds, I've become quite adept at it over the many years and hosts I've lived through. I wouldn't waste my talent on a corpse with no mind to conquer!** "

Hiro's silver eye flashed in anger. " **Are you telling me that she can still be saved?!** " he shouted, and Tsubaki laughed.

" **No, she can't. I've suppressed it for so long that the host mind never had a chance to develop. Even if you were able to exorcise me, she'd be left a physically crippled, mentally disabled lump of flesh. She would suffer through the agony of her body shutting down because her brain can't control her bodily functions, until finally dying from total nervous system failure. You can't force me out or you'll kill her in the most agonizing way possible, and you can't kill us together because I am immortal! Either way, you will only be hurting her!** "

Her grin widened at the look of shock that crossed Hiro's face.

"What is she saying, Hiro-san?" Momo asked, and Nemesis's eye swivelled to face her, though he kept the on under his control trained on Tsubaki.

Through his mouth, Nemesis spoke, her voice filled with concern. "If we get rid of her, Camellia will die too. She's still alive, but she won't be if we try to destroy the parasite."

Momo stared at Tsubaki, then back at Hiro/Nemesis. "There has to be some way…" She touched her chin thoughtfully with the hand not currently holding Nana up.

Nana, meanwhile, rose her head, blinking away the exhaustion that had lead to her passing out. "W-What's going on? Did we win?" she asked, before her eyes widened at the sight of Tsubaki incapable of moving under the weight of the ball, which now was attached to Hiro's head by a thicker strand of hair, as Nemesis could control it better from much closer.

Tsubaki looked at the two, who had just made their presence known again, and her grin widened.

" **I'm surprised Mr. Pointy-Teeth didn't better equip you all before sending you after me.** " she mused. " **He's always so well-prepared for everything...did he decide that he would leave his favorite test subject to his own devices?** "

Hiro narrowed his eyes, and the golden one rolled back in line with the other one to face her. " **Who is that?** " he asked, and Nemesi put in her own words after him.

"What do you mean by that? What test subject?" Hiro had to translate for her, and Tsubaki remained silent as he repeated what she said.

Her grin flickered for a second, briefly pointing downward before it returned to normal. " **Don't play dumb, he's the whole reason I attacked your family in the first place. I just wanted to screw with Deviluke a little, and messing up Mr. Pointy-Teeth's oh-so-important plan was the best way to do it. Don't pretend you don't know him, I know you're his favorite human.** "

" **I have no idea what you're talking about. Who in the world is 'Mr. Pointy-Teeth'? I don't know any Devilukeans other than the princesses, I haven't even ever met Zastin.** "

Tsubaki tilted her head. " **Oh...you really don't know?** " she asked, and her grin widened further, her eyes trembling with excitement. " **Then allow me to tell you his name, I'm sure you'll know who I am talking about once you know it!** "

"Just tell us, stop taking so long." Nemesis complained, and Tsubaki nodded, though rather than looking at them, she looked at the twins as she spoke.

" **He's an old...acquaintance of mine. The man who has been a thorn in my side since I began my killing career. I call him Mr. Pointy-Teeth because I'm immature and just wanted to make fun of him. I could have called him Shota-kun or something, but jokes about his height are kind of old and stale by now, so I did the next best thing.** "

She took a few seconds to breathe, the weight on her body forcing her lungs to have far less capacity than normal, before continuing, her grin fading to a regular smile, albeit still sadistic.

" **Of course, that's not his real name. He has one, and it's a pretty cool one, even I have to admit it. Makes him sound pretty powerful...though I suppose that makes sense, considering he IS powerful. I bet the princesses over there know his name quite well!** "

" **Spit it out, stop with the filler.** " Hiro said in irritation, his eyebrow twitching with his annoyance.

Tsubaki's grin returned in full force as she nodded.

" **His name's Gid. Gid Lucione Deviluke.** "


	58. Gid's Test Subject

**Sorry this was a bit out of order, I got a new beta reader and had to wait for their reviewing! Thank you for your help!**

* * *

" **His name is Gid. Gid Lucione Deviluke.** " Tsubaki said, her grin widening. " **King of the Devilukean Empire, and self-proclaimed ruler of the universe!** "

The name wasn't a surprise in the slightest to Hiro, but from the sudden tension he felt from Nemesis, coupled with him feeling the sphere's density lowering through the strands of hair she controlled, and seeing the shocked expressions on the twins' faces, he realized that had to have been a big deal...though he couldn't imagine why. Gid, as the king of Deviluke, had to have a huge influence on anything going on within it.

Then again, kings don't necessarily have absolute power, and with an empire as large as Deviluke, it was probably impossible for any one person to know everything that was going on within it.

Tsubaki laughed, a sound that would have been maniacal had she not been having trouble breathing underneath the sphere, at the expressions on the princess' faces.

They didn't need to speak English to recognize that she had clearly said the name of their father.

" **You should see yourselves right now! Yes, that man is the reason I went after Hiro! His project is the only reason I bothered with a backwater planet like Earth in the first place!** "

The sphere unravelled, and Tsubaki leapt up, landing on her feet as if she had not just been nearly crushed, her grin never fading as she stood with her arms held out to either side.

Her eyes seemed to be shadowed as she stared at Hiro, gauging his reaction at her announcement with eyes filled with her insanity.

 _Nemesis, why did you release her? We had her contained!_ he shouted in his mind, and was met by a confused ringing sound in his ears as she shifted within him.

" _I'm sorry, it was just too big a surprise! I get that it doesn't mean anything to you, but Gid is also the person who spearheaded Project Nemesis! He was my creator, just as he is those two's father! How could I not be surprised that he was connected to you?!_ "

Hiro tched, gritting his teeth as he glared at Tsubaki, his gold iris becoming swamped in silver as he regained control of the organ.

" **What kind of project involves me? I have nothing to do with Deviluke, and I certainly have no ties to Gid.** " he asked.

Tsubaki stood still, matching his glare with her own mad stare. She barely moved to breathe as she replied. Perhaps she had been more injured than she seemed by the strike?

A quick " _Doubtful_ " from Nemesis' thoughts disproved that theory. Then again, could any of them really figure out what was going on in the psychopathic loli's mind?

" **I'm not going to bother going into the details of it, but you certainly are his primary test subject. I admit, I made a mistake in attacking you 8 years ago, but now, you have replaced Rito Yuuki as the main candidate. I don't even know the extent of the project myself, but I do know that it heavily relates to all the Trans swarming around you. That's why I killed Mea too, to correct my earlier error by getting rid of one of the actual subjects of the project!** "

Nemesis didn't need to be connected to his mind to feel the sudden wave of anger that crossed over him. The hatred he felt now was almost tangible even to the shell-shocked girls standing behind them.

" **You killed Mea...just to mess with Gid?!** " he shouted, and he would have bolted at her if Nemesis didn't wrench control of his legs from him at that moment.

Even though Nemesis stopped him, Tsubaki reacted as if he had attacked her, vanishing in the clean, blurless movements she'd made before.

" _Behind you!_ " Nemesis shouted in his head, and he whirled around, raising his hand in a fist enhanced with strands of Trans hair going along the shape of the veins of his arm and hand, guided by the heightened senses that came with Nemesis regaining control of his eye.

Her warning had been spot on, and his fist connected with something hard. With a scream, Tsubaki reappeared, sent flying away from him, her small frame meaning that her weight carried far before she finally hit the ground again.

She may have an unnaturally high physical ability, but her defenses were not nearly so airtight. This was another situation in which having such a young host was a detriment and not a benefit, as her low weight meant that she got much more air before landing, and the force of Hiro's Trans-enhanced attack was so great that she couldn't regain her footing when she landed, sending her tumbling several times before finally stopping in a heap on the ground.

Momo and Nana stood still, staring at Tsubaki. They were next to useless against her right now, and they knew it.

Their D-Dials were shattered, they couldn't create the dual tail-beam they had used against the Darkness that Hiro had dubbed 'Demon' in the short amount of time they had here, and neither knew any form of close-combat fighting that would be of any use.

They could do nothing, so they simply stayed out of it...though they each had their own reactions to the knowledge that this fight had nothing to do with them anymore.

"I...If I could just understand how she's doing that, I could do something!" Momo said, and next to her, Nana collapsed to her knees, her eyes as wide and shaky as they had been earlier.

"This is completely out of my league…" she said quietly. "Momo, how were you able to stay unhurt training with them…?"

Momo peeled her eyes away from the battle to look at her sister. "They were never this serious in training. They're not holding back at all…" She looked at Tsubaki, who had only just started getting back up after the strike. "Hiro, what kind of emotion are you feeling right now…?"

Her question was easily answered as he shouted at the Ragnarian, and she knew the kind of hateful insults he had to be spewing at her even without understanding the language he shouted in.

Tsubaki was looking rough after that single attack. The entire right side of her face was swelling, her eye surrounding in blue as a bruise formed, and she was covered in all manner of scrapes from sliding across the concrete at the front of the school.

If this wasn't obviously a fight, it would look as if Hiro was abusing a child, though the expression on Tsubaki's face made it clear that she was no kid.

She grinned at him as she wiped small beads of broken-off concrete particles from the lump on her cheek, her eyes looking teary as a reflexive response to the pain he knew she was feeling now.

Good, let her feel pain. She deserved it for everything she'd done.

" **Looks like you're getting used to my style of fighting…** " she said, her expression almost proud. " **It's too bad you still don't understand how it works.** "

" **Nemesis has memorized your heat signature now, and I can see it through her eye. We don't need to know how it works anymore.** " Hiro replied, his arm still raised, trails of black marking where Nemesis's Trans fibers followed the ridges on his skin.

" **Oh, that's no fun!** " Tsubaki complained gleefully. " **At least try to guess, it's boring if you just give up trying just because you can bypass it! Come on, give a guess! Anything, I want to see what that combined brainpower can come up with!** "

 _This girl is a nutcase._ he thought, and Nemesis agreed.

" **We thought you were just moving too fast to see at first, but when Nemesis figured out your heat signature, we could see you moving normally. So you're probably going invisible somehow...which should be impossible since Ragnarians have to follow their host's physical limitations.** "

Tsubaki grinned. " **Poor little test subjects.** " she taunted. " **You see the world in black and white. Invisibility is an ability that no species can naturally use, and moving that quickly would require warping spacetime! Not even Deviluke, with all of its resources, has ever managed to do that! Time travel, even in such a microcosm situation like that, is utterly impossible! You'll have to think of a better answer than those!** "

" **I don't care how your ability works! Tell me what this project is! What does it have to do with me? Why would Gid care about some random human in a tiny country on Earth?!** "

Tsubaki laghed. " **Indeed, why does he care about you? Humans are a weak, pathetic species with little technology, why does the leader of the most advanced civilization in the galaxy have any desire to witness this world's future?"**


	59. The Angelite

"Master, we have returned." stated the flat voice of Gin'iro, and the two bowed to the man sitting in his chair.

This time, the many screens around his seat were all facing the same place, what seemed to be a small lab, the room mostly dark but for some emergency bulbs strewn around the room, shedding enough light to see roughly what was going on.

Gid kept his eyes glued to the screen, a small wave the only motion suggesting that he realized they were there.

He watched the experiment going on in the lab intently, his large eyes narrowed as he stared at the screens.

"Gin'iro. Kin'iro. Come here." he said, waving them forth.

They blinked, looking at each other and tilting their heads in exactly the same way, before obeying, walking up to him, though they stopped several feet away.

"No, no, come up here. I want you to look at this experiment. It is very important for the next phase of the project."

Gin'iro hesitated, but the more adventurous Kin'iro stepped forward, her hands clasped together behind her back as she leaned over to look at the screens.

Her eyes widened at the sight, and her mouth opened in surprise. "Is that…"

Gid grinned, nodding. "An Angelite, yes. I had sent Azenda the Tyrant out to capture one a few months ago, and she was able to track down two. Unfortunately, the first escaped in shipping, leaving this one alone."

Gin'iro walked to her sister's side, looking over the screen. "What is she doing?" she asked.

The Angelite, whose features were shrouded in darkness due to the fact that only the emergency lights were on in the lab, was standing still in the middle of the small room, surrounded by several people, many of whom had the long pointed tails of the Devilukeans.

Despite the darkness, there was just enough light to illuminate the alien's silhouette, showing her clearly feminine form, short and thin. A side camera showed that she was flat-chested, giving her body a prismatic shape.

Well, it would be if not for the short translucent wings jutting from her back. They were small, not large enough for any actual flight, and seemed to be a solid piece, with a smooth plane leading to a jagged edge, though it was hard to tell whether the edges were natural or intentionally cut off in the low light.

Gid nodded, scratching his chin with a couple fingers. "She's meditating. She was only brought in a few days ago, and she's been doing that ever since testing began. Not much is known of the Angelite race even with Deviluke's sources, but the group working on her believe that it is an attempt to prevent her mind from breaking.

"Ahh...So you're trying to break her…" Kin'iro said, nodding in understanding.

"Having an Angelite working for you...How will this affect the project?" Gin'iro asked, and Gid shook his head.

"Angelites, at least from the data gathered from this one, are a peaceful race. She has not shown a particularly interesting affinity for any sort of combat, and her abilities, despite being largely unknown, don't seem to have much relevance to Tsubaki. She will be nothing more than assurance in case Hiro has too much trouble taking her down. Of course, we can't be certain that any of that will happen. We'll just have to see if the guys at the labs are able to successfully break her mind."

The girls looked at each other, and he raised an eyebrow at the interaction. "What is it? Is there something the matter?"

They looked at him, and Kin'iro looked down, letting Gin'iro speak instead.

"Master...the battle with Tsubaki has already begun." she replied. "We were going to tell you in our report, before you instructed us to view this experiment."

He blinked, before sighing, and his hand met his forehead, his eyes closing in exasperation. "So she decided to go ahead and start…" he said. "How is it going?"

"Abbadon has not reported in since Tsubaki came to Hiro's classroom. The status of the battle is unknown, and it isn't expected to be reported until it has ended." Kin'iro said, and he nodded.

He sighed, leaning back in his chair and holding his arms over his head, grunting as he stretched his back and arms. "Well, no sense worrying about it. We'll have to trust that Hiro can defeat her...He certainly has all the tools to do so, with both Nemesis and the fused Eve on his side...Plus, he has all three of my daughters. There is little to be concerned about."

"Sir...May I disagree?" Gin'iro asked, and Gid nodded.

"You may." he replied, and she nodded in return.

"We extensively studied what is known about Tsubaki when you gave us our names, and I doubt that they can handle her on their own. Tsubaki is a Class B criminal, is she not?"

Kin'iro nodded. "And Hiro is only a Class E, he is hardly stronger than a normal human. Even with the C-ranked Eve Lunatique and Nemesis on his side, he can't overpower her, not with her abilities."

Gid shook his head. "Those ranks are old, they have not been updated since the Darkness Incident four months ago. Hiro and Nemesis are both B-rank now, and Eve...Well, she's exceeded S-rank."

The two had identical looks of surprise at the information. "She's SS now?! What has she been doing?" Kin'iro asked in surprise, and Gid laughed.

"Did you think they were sitting around doing nothing while Tsubaki plotted against them? Hiro's been hard at work, and his success in fusing Eve with her Darkness Program worked better than he expected. In terms of raw power, there are few beings in this universe capable of exceeding her...though she is not as skilled as she could be, as she has still not yet gotten used to her new body. Ask Abbadon for a complete synopsis of everything she's gathered since she became the lead spy there."

"Can she be trusted now that she's joined Hiro?" Gin'iro asked, and Gid nodded.

"Yes, she can. I have stated this before, but obviously you aren't aware. She, despite being the most prominent spy of the Cortex administration, is still a growing girl. Being on Earth, and being half human, she's starting to notice things that she didn't in previous missions."

"...Are you saying she wishes to reproduce with Hiro?" Kin'iro asked, and he laughed at the utterly serious expression on her face.

"You and your sister are not fully developed emotionally, it seems." he said, leaning back in his seat and crossing his hands behind his head. "There are more intimate relationships than simple reproduction. Her interest in Hiro is not sexual in nature, it's more...romantic. That is, if she didn't know her place, she would wish to marry him."


	60. Eve's Darkness

" _This fight is going nowhere._ " Nemesis said into Hiro's mind as they stood, watching as the girl regained her composure. " _We're only landing superficial blows, and I can't keep up with all of her attacks. I'm barely blocking each one at this point, and she isn't slowing down._ "

Hiro nodded, glaring at the subject of his 8-year-long hatred. _She's using attacks that can't be done with a human body, and she's way stronger than she should be. Camellia's a child, she shouldn't be able to do any damage at all, much less require the full protection of your Trans shielding._

" _She was able to shatter the twins' D-Dials, which were made of enameled Devilukean plastics that should be impenetrable. My hair is a far stronger compound, but it's still worrisome…_ "

Tsubaki grinned as she got into position to make another run at them. " **What's wrong? Am I scaring you now? Are you realizing how hopeless it is to fight me? I have killed beings far stronger than you, and while you are admittedly an annoying little bug that won't squash so easily, you're still nothing. I've killed Balkeans stronger than you.** "

Nemesis laughed, though Hiro was confused. " _Balkeans are a shapeshifter race with no actual strength._ " she explained. " _Mattaku, it's like she's getting her insults from a 6-year-old._ "

Hiro laughed in response. _Maybe she is, that's the age of her body, after all._

" **Well, if you have trouble fighting Balkeans, then no wonder you're not able to crush us so easily!** " he taunted back. " **After all, I am the one who defeated the Darkness Program!** "

" **It seems you don't have control over it, or else that assassin would have been here to help you fight. Even I admit to fearing that monster inside her, after all, it has been ranked one of the strongest living creatures in the galaxy almost since the Galactic Unification War. However...I have nothing to worry about if she's not here, and once you're dead, what happens to this body doesn't matter!** "

"What's this I hear about having a monster inside me?" came a voice, and Tsubaki's grin dropped like a stone as she, along with Hiro and the twins, were all simultaneously brought to their knees, the air thickening as gravity seemed to quadruple on itself.

Hiro closed the eye he had control over in an effort to fight the gravity waves, knowing instantly who was producing them.

This feeling was very familiar, exactly as it had been after Mea was killed.

He didn't need to hear Nana's gasp as she lost the battle with gravity and fell to the ground, or Tsubaki's shriek of surprise, to know who had arrived.

" **You're here!** " the psychotic loli screamed, and Nemesis's eye swivelled to face upwards, Hiro keeping his eyelid open as much as he could under the feeling of his entire body trying to buckle in on itself so they could see clearly.

Eve floated above them, black feathered wings protruding from her back to keep her body motionless as she glared down at Tsubaki.

Her anger was tangible, flowing off her body in thick waves of purple energy, and Hiro caught a glimpse of Nemesis's memories of Darkness having the same sort of visible power, though Eve was neither wearing her battle dress nor the skimpy barely-concealing clothing that Demon had favored.

It was a rare sight nowadays, seeing her in that battle dress she used to wear all the time. She'd stated that it wasn't all that comfortable, now preferring the Sainan High school uniform, which was what she wore now.

Her uniform blew as if it was windy under the raw force of the waves of hatred coming off her, though she didn't seem to care that the shirt had become untucked or that, from their positions on the ground, the battling parties could see a clear shot under her skirt. Her eyes were trained on Tsubaki, and her hair was already shaped into four blades, poised to strike at her command.

Her arms hung loosely at her sides, and her hands were open, which somehow made her appearance even more terrifying than if they were clenched into fists.

" **Tsubaki.** " she said. " **So you started the fight without me.** " Her English was rough, but it was much better than Nemesis', who required Hiro's mental translating to understand anything the Ragnarian said.

Tsubaki stared up at her, legs locked in place, defying the well of gravity surrounding her. This was the advantage of having such a small body, she had much less surface area to be influenced by Crow's power.

The girl's expression hardened, though her eyes trembled in fear at the Trans floating above them.

" **I admit, I was hoping not to have to feel this power again.** " she said. " **How are you, Konjiki no Yami?** "

The blonde's eyes narrowed. " **I am Eve Lunatique now. I've completely done away with my life as an assassin. However, I wouldn't mind erasing one more life if it means giving the person who saved me from Darkness his life goal.** "

" **It is sad that you had just escaped your cycle of killing, only to come right back to it, all in the name of protecting your loved one.** " Tsubaki replied. The only sign that Eve even acknowledged the statement was a slight raise of her eyebrow, before the four blades of her hair shot forward toward her.

They struck the ground, Tsubaki having vanished from the spot she'd been standing in, kicking up rubble and dust from the small craters that formed with the connection of blade to concrete.

Nemesis went haywire in Hiro's head, the ringing in his ears amplifying as the eye she controlled rotated wildly in an effort to reconnect to Tsubaki's heat signature.

 _Nemesis, what happened? Where did she go?_ Hiro asked, groaning and fighting the gravity in order to lift his hand to his forehead in a futile effort to soothe the sudden sharp headache he suddenly felt.

" _She just vanished! She couldn't have moved so quickly, we were already locked onto her! It's this gravity, I can't focus on anything with it weighing down your thought processes!_ "

 _You're made of dark matter, gravity shouldn't affect you!_

" _I'm not pure dark matter, I'm a physical entity whose base substance just happens to be that! Gravity works the same on me as it does anyone else, except I have way more trouble keeping my body together under it! I'm safe from that since inside you I don't need a physical form, but I can only do as much as your body allows me, and we aren't in tune with each other enough for me to use any more of your brainpower than I am now!_ "

Hiro tched as he glared at the space where Tsubaki was. _I'm useless under this gravity...but Eve still isn't in control with her new abilities enough to only affect Tsubaki...not that that seems to have made much of a difference, if she escaped so easily._

Eve's blades retracted back to her, and she scanned the area. " **You weren't affected by the gravity?** " she asked, and the familiar insane laughter of the criminal came, seemingly without a source or direction.

" **A simple trick, and one this host body is quite well adapted to fighting.** " she replied, and Eve quickly raised her arm, the limb already shaped into the swordlike appearance she favored with more direct attacking than her hair transformation.

Her instincts, honed by 25 millennia of fighting, were spot on, and as soon as the blade was fully formed, Tsubaki slammed into it, though the way Eve positioned it meant that she only hit the flat of the blade.

There was no time to react before she vanished again, and even without Eve lifting the gravity well, the other fighters knew that their enemy had fled.

A smart decision, considering that, while raw, Eve's power was overwhelming. It would have only been a matter of time before she would have located the loli and neutralized her.

As the first of the Trans slowly descended to the ground, Hiro stood up, glancing over at the twins to make sure they were alright (they were) before nodding to Eve, and beside him, Nemesis materialized, breaking off their Trans-Fusion.

Inside the school, looking through the window between the crowd of people who had all decided to ignore class and watch the fight, the girl Hiro knew as Haruhi and that Deviluke knew as Abbadon recorded everything in her mind, ready to report it to her superiors as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, outside, while Nemesis helped Momo lift Nana back onto her feet and Hiro talked with Eve, a woman walked in the confident style of an instructor out from the main building, her face showing clear annoyance.

"Nakamura-san...and affiliates." she said, and the group looked at her. "You are aware that fighting is against school rules, are you not?"

Hiro bowed his head in respect to the woman. "Dunois-sensei." he said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry about that…"

The principal of the school, Gabrielle Dunois waved her hand to cut him off. "I will overlook it...just this once."

He blinked, looking at her in confusion, and she sighed, shrugging and glancing at Eve, before her eyes turned back to him.

"I understand that you have...special circumstances surrounding you and your particular circle of friends." she stated. "Ryuko-sama has explained to me the...relationship you have with the interplanetary criminal Tsubaki Dirnu. It also helps your case that you waited until you reached an area that is a safe distance from the school, so no students were hurt."

"Thank you, Dunois-sensei." Eve said, bowing to the woman, who just nodded.

"No need to bow, I understand that you obey only Nakamura-san." she replied, and Eve laughed.

"Well...that is true."


	61. Nymph

It was dark.

This wasn't a particularly strange feeling, nor was it new. For the last few weeks, it was all the girl saw.

Darkness. She was happy when she was allowed this darkness, when she wasn't having images crammed into her head and taking up space she wanted to save for meditation.

It was cold, but she liked the cold. It was a welcome change from the burning feeling that accompanied by the images, coating her skin in flame.

She knew where she was. She knew what was happening. She was completely aware of what was happening in the outside world. She was aware that she was being experimented on.

Scientists of Deviluke were trying to break her, trying to flush away her identity and replace it with those false memories they tried to feed her. They thought her race to be mythical, and rather than allow her the freedom she wished for, they wanted to change her. They wanted to take what they didn't understand and manipulate it until they could comprehend what she was.

Angelite. That was the name assigned to her race. A laughable name, but an accurate one, she had to admit. She was not the most graceful of people this side of the Tadpole Galaxy, but her appearance bore a close enough resemblance to an angel that it was a decent description.

She didn't know why she had been captured, and while she knew she could find answers, she chose to stay locked inside the corners of her mind. She liked the darkness, and she liked the coldness. It was a welcoming place that hid her from the images.

She didn't know why she had been abandoned. She had been with her sister before, but when that assassin came, she vanished, leaving her to fend for herself against the might of a far more experienced fighter than her.

She didn't really feel any sadness, nor did she feel hurt, by her sister's decision. Truth be told, she only knew she was her sister because the word always came up when she tried to recollect her face.

She knew the Devilukeans were winning. Her wall was not strong, she never expected to defeat their machines and their images and the sultry voice of the scientist who sometimes spoke in her ear. Her pointed, mechanical ear. A 'modification' the scientists had made to her, removing her auditory system and replacing it with state-of-the-art Devilukean technology.

In other words, just another way to bind her to them.

The wall of her mind was simple bricks, the images they showed her a battering ram to crack through, knocking over a section every time it swept forward. She had forgotten many things already.

Her sister's face. Her sister's name. Her own name. She had no idea how many things she had already forgotten, no idea what things were real and what were fabricated.

She knew the name she now referred to herself with was not real. A stupid name like 'Nymph' couldn't possibly be something her race would name one of its own.

Or was she one of them? Maybe she had been cast out, uncared for and left to fend for herself. Maybe her sister wasn't even real, just another cleverly implanted lie designed by the scientists.

She couldn't even remember what she looked like anymore. And who knows how many changes the scientists had made to her appearance already? She could be half machine at this point and not even know.

Then again, just as she couldn't remember what her life was like before this all happened, she also couldn't remember why she cared.

What reason did she have for fighting against them breaking her? Why was that bad? Why were these memories, many of which felt quite nice, any less valid than those that were being flushed away?

She knew they were winning. No, they weren't winning, they already had won. She was already lost, the Angelite whose name she could not remember long since burned away in the bonfire of the images.

That person was a stranger. That person had no bearing on her life. That person had died, and she didn't feel the slightest iota of sadness at that person's light fading into blackness.

Just as that person's light dimmed, hers brightened, fuelled by the images constantly being forced into her head. The feeling of her skin burning in response to the memories being implanted into her became a comforting touch.

It gave her a sense of reality, a sensation she'd forgotten since before her ears had been removed. The memories were no longer false, and she couldn't remember why she'd thought they were. They felt real enough to her, at least, and really, did it matter if they were real or not if she wanted to keep them?

She knew she was tethered to Deviluke now, or else they'd activate some sort of kill code in those robotic prosthetics they'd stuck into her. She would be forced to obey them, forced to follow through with whatever plans they had for her.

She found it hard to care. She was an Angelite, a race with no combat capabilities and little mental defenses, especially against the onslaught of the scientists' devices. It was not her place to judge what was right or wrong, reality or dream, who she was. Let the people that were stronger and smarter than she was handle that for her. They knew what they were doing, she didn't.

The memories they gave her were right. She was alone, the last of her race. She was merely another test subject for them to fiddle with, an oddity that they could manipulate as they saw fit.

She had no right to defy them. She knew they had won, and she accepted it. The darkness blinked out of existence as she opened her eyes for the first time in a week, scanning the room, taking in everything.

It was dark in the room, but not as dark as the back of her eyelids, small red lights throwing just enough light off to enable her to see. There were several of them, seven or so, surrounding her, some messing with machines and some simply staring at her.

She felt a tug from behind her, and turned her head to see what was going on. One of them were touching her wings.

Wings? She had wings? Oh, of course she had wings. She was an angel after all.

No, not an angel.

She was a Nymph.


	62. Phone Call

It was surprisingly quiet after the fight with Tsubaki was cut short, and within a week, everything went back to normal...with help from Principal Dunois explaining the situation to the human students, along with the aliens both in and out of Hiro's Tsubaki's Game group that had not been part of the fight.

It seemed that many of them had already heard of Tsubaki from Okamoto, who was certainly not known for his ability to keep secrets, though Kirishima had kept quiet for the most part. Then again, she seemed to disappear most of the time, so Hiro pinned her as a side character like most of the other students he knew, and side characters rarely have plot relevance.

The biggest issue had been him and Nemesis retaking their exams since neither had been able to finish thanks to Tsubaki's appearance, but that was all solved now. Now, the group simply sat around his house after school on Friday, and as usually happened around the weekend, Momo had appeared too.

"I'm bored." Nemesis complained, taking up most of the couch as she lay across the cushions, staring up at the ceiling.

"Of course you are, you're always bored." Eve replied without even looking up from the manga she was reading. It was a volume of a series Hiro had introduced her to, called _Black Cat_ , and she had been hooked immediately...strange considering she rarely enjoyed non-romance series. She simply liked the serious nature of the series, and of course, it was entertaining watching what was essentially her own backstory.

She had been less than surprised to find that both _Black Cat_ and _To LOVE-ru_ , both of which Hiro and she enjoyed reading, were written by a former student of Sainan High, a man named Yuuki Saibai...a name she vaguely recognized but never cared to look up. Fourth wall aside, many of the characters were very similar, it only made sense that the same person would have created them...barring the uncanny resemblance to their reality.

It was as if they were part of the canon.

Momo ignored both of them, tapping on the new and improved D-Dial Lala had already made for her and Nana to replace the ones Tsubaki broke, checking to make sure every member of her plant collection were safe and sound.

Luckily, everything seemed to be there, though oddly enough, her stores of Jikido flowers had grown multiple times. It wasn't particularly worrisome, but she certainly didn't want anyone to accidentally smell them, knowing the effects the flowers had on humans. The couple times she'd seen Rito influenced by them was plenty for her.

From the coffee table sitting between the seats, a smartphone that had been lying silent suddenly lit up, a ringtone going off and signalling an incoming call.

"Fukigen na tenkimoyou ga noriutsutteta aitsu nanda!" came the voice of a singing girl in what was clearly the lyrics to some anime series, and Nemesis sighed, rolling her eyes to stare at the rectangle of the screen from her position on the couch, too lazy to bother getting up to take it.

"Hiro's phone's going off again…" she said, mostly to herself. "It's been doing that a lot recently…"

"Maybe he's got a girlfriend that he hasn't told us about." Momo said idly. While she was very interested in her Harem Plan, she'd mostly given up on the Harem Plan Mark II, after realizing that Hiro mostly had things covered on his own...but she still could poke fun eat him every so often.

"I'd hope not, he wouldn't be the same Hiro-san if he cared about romance." Eve replied.

"Same difference, his mind's the same as always." Nemesis said, before they heard footsteps coming from the hallway, signalling the entrance of the house's actual owner.

"Why did nobody tell me my phone was ringing?" Hiro asked, sighing as he ran a towel across his head. He was dressed loosely and his hair was wet, an increasingly common sight since Momo became a regular visitor of the household. He hadn't even bothered to put a shirt on after the shower, leaving his torso visible to the other residents of the house.

It seemed that frequently having someone able to read any and all thoughts he had inside his head had helped to cut away most of his embarrassment at being half-dressed, not that he really had any reason to be embarrassed anyway.

He knew not one of the three actually cared either way, with Momo's total devotion to Yuuki and Nemesis basically considering his body hers.

Eve was a bit harder to deal with since she had a genuine interest in romance, and she often would shamelessly stare at him when he was in that state, but he'd learned to ignore her, and now, he hardly even glanced at her as he went to the table to pick up his phone.

He glanced at the screen, holding the towel to his head with his other hand, and pressed the button to accept the call, turning away from the group and walking to the kitchen side of the room to talk.

"Konnichiwa, Yuri-chan." he said. "What's up?"

He set the towel down on the counter so he could open the refrigerator door to get something to eat, holding the phone to his ear with his other hand.

The three lazing aliens watched him as he talked, each with various different expressions.

"Oh, really? That sucks. Well, just text me the right place and I'll see what I can do. If I'm at school then, I can just send Eve to get you."

He took out a closed container and set it down on the counter to get silverware as the person he was talking to replied.

"What are you volunteering me for?" Eve asked him, and he glanced at her and grinned.

"Picking up someone for me if I can't make the train, you can just fly there and get her. Is that okay with you?" he explained, before speaking into the receiver. "No, Eve's the one that was in the news in December. Nemesis is the short one in that picture I sent you."

"I'm not short, I'm compact!" Nemesis complained.

"Dark matter is less dense than regular matter, you're just short." he countered.

"So who's Yuri-chan?" Momo asked. "Why haven't we heard of her?"

Hiro blinked. "Did I...Did I forget to tell you? She's my cousin. She lives in Canada, and we planned for her to come visit for a while since like January. Didn't I explain all this already?"

"No?" Nemesis said. "You never mentioned any Yuri to us…"

Hiro blinked, before laughing. "Oh. Well...Now you know." After Yuri said something, he laughed again. "She told me to tell you she's excited to meet you all."

"Tell her I said hi." Eve said, and he nodded and relayed the sentiment to the phone.

"Well, I've got to go now, Yuri-chan." he said. "International calls suck, just message me the new location on Skype. Sayonara!" He removed the phone from his ear, pressing the screen to end the call. "Let's...keep the whole Tsubaki thing a secret while she's hear. She knows my parents died, but she doesn't know what caused it, and I'd rather not explain."


	63. Airport

The woman cooed as she ran a cloth across the bump on the child's face. "Poor baby, what happened to you?"

Tsubaki cringed at the stinging feeling of the alcohol in the cloth coming in contact with the injury, and one of her eyes closed instinctively in a response to the pain she felt when her host's mother pressed down on the swollen area.

She smiled, though it was somewhat less convincing than before the battle. The woman had been taking care of her for several days since she'd made her move, and every day, she said the same thing.

It was getting on her nerves now, so she decided to finally answer the woman's question with a lie that was somewhat carelessly constructed. She was too annoyed at the woman and Hiro and herself to bother with any sort of legitimate excuse.

"Soba-kun kicked me off the slide at recess." she said, and made an attempt to fake crying as a little kid would...but it didn't quite work more than a simple sniffle.

She was just too worked up over the fight to properly fake human as she'd been doing for so was lucky for her that the woman was too blind to see the true entity controlling her "daughter".

Even the suppressed consciousness of the real Camellia Vermillion was getting harder to suppress, and sometimes, when Tsubaki was in that stage between being awake and being asleep,she could feel the child taking control, though she was quick to crack down on her neural pathways as usual.

She couldn't understand why it was happening, but it probably had to do with Hiro's influence, just like everything that had gone wrong in her life in the last few months...and it definitely didn't help that she foolishly went out and engaged him while she was sick.

The cold was gone now, but the regret of fighting like that remained. It was a dumb move on her part, and she couldn't figure out why she had made such a decision.

Although, it had almost worked out as intended. She'd only had to reveal her little vanishing act to the boy, and if it hadn't been for Eve randomly showing up, she would have won.

The woman left the room, closing the door behind her, and Tsubaki frowned.

 _He didn't know about Mr. Pointy-Teeth._ she thought, turning to face the window she always kept closed and blocked by blinds, pulling her legs up and wrapping her arms around her shins so she was sitting up in the bed.

That was what really confused her. Why had he not known about the project? He was the prime candidate, how could Gid have NOT told him?!

Then again, Yuuki Rito, the other main candidate, was also unaware of his involvement, though his role had been cancelled out anyway when Nemesis, and soon after, Yami, had switched over to Hiro's side.

It was mind-boggling, witnessing Hiro's capability to take command of the project even if he didn't know of his role in it. It had only been a month or two since she had seen him, but within that amount of time…

He'd even taught Yami how to control her Darkness. When she had appeared at the end of the fight, the Ragnarian could almost see the power rolling off her in waves, and she knew instantly that somehow, some way, Hiro had done it.

She didn't even know it was possible to bring out the Darkness Program without also bringing up its drawback of being bound to a singular desire. Even Eden, the group that had spawned the first Trans, had been unsuccessful at doing that before they were destroyed by Chronos, Deviluke's secret service.

The thought that Gid would call in such a powerful organization to destroy one lab was odd, but she didn't pretend to understand the goals and plans of his project. She was simply a bystander, albeit one who enjoyed creating chaos within the project.

She knew that things would be harder on the king of Deviluke, with Mea dead and her still very much active...and she was on the verge of figuring out who their primary spy was. She knew there was at least one planted in Sainan High somewhere, but she only had loose evidence for who it was.

She leaned mostly toward their principal, the enigmatic Gabriella Dunois, who claimed to be French but had a very much Japanese accent...though it was hard for her to discern since she did not speak more than 30 or so words of Japanese. If it wasn't Dunois, it could be the black-haired half-jinn she sometimes saw wandering around near the school, a girl she vaguely recognized as some sort of idol and a character in a show the woman enjoyed.

She didn't like not knowing things, but she'd swallow her annoyance and figure it out.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

Hiro looked around the crowded building, whistling at the sheer number of people moving back and forth. "Narita's got a ton of traffic, I bet there's more people here than in half of Sainan."

Eve landed beside him, only briefly glancing around as her wings folded into her back, vanishing from sight. A few people looked at her oddly, but there wasn't too much outcry over an angel appearing at an international airport, not after Sainan had been officially declared a safe haven for "Extraterrestrial immigrants". Who knows, maybe all these people recognized Eve from the Darkness Incident, which had spread to papers nationwide, though luckily Sainan had not been flooded with reporters trying to get a scoop on the aliens involved.

"It isn't as densely packed as the rest of Tokyo." she mused. "And there are places in the Devilukean Empire with twice the population density."

Hiro laughed at the girl's matter-of-fact tone. Even after slowly coming out of her shell thanks to her fusion, she still retained much of Yami's reserved personality. It lead to her being unable to read the mood sometimes.

The boy looked at a sheet he held in his hand. "She got here half an hour ago, so we should hurry to the baggage claim and find her." He sighed, folding the paper and placing it in his pocket, looking for the signs leading to the baggage claim. "I hate airports, they're such a hassle. This is why Japan uses trains."

"It may also be because Japan is a small country." Eve said as they began walking, following the signs in the proper direction. "And you should see Deviluke Interplanetary Airport. It makes this place look barren."

Hiro sighed. "Do you have to compare everything to Deviluke? You're probably the only person in this entire city who has been offworld."

He bumped into someone, letting out an 'oof' as he stepped back. "Gomen." he said idly.

The man looked at him, and he blinked in surprise. The man's face was blue, and he had what seemed like gills on his cheeks. His hair stuck up in dark blue strands, like he'd put in way too much hair gel, and his eyes were perfectly round, solid white with a dot-shaped black pupil

The man smiled, revealing rows of sharp teeth. "Don't worry about it!" he said, laughing and looking around. "This place is so crowded, I'm surprised I didn't get bumped into more than this."

Hiro blinked, and Eve nodded. "You're a Europan, right?" she asked, and he nodded.

"Yep, decided to move to Earth after I heard that they finally have an official sanctuary for us aliens." He held a hand out. "Nice to meet you, I'm Surg Gar."

Hiro took the man's hand, smiling at him. It was odd, meeting a completely new alien and not being immediately prejudiced against him. Things really had changed since December.

"Nakamura Hiro." he said. "Nice to meet you."

"And I'm Eve Lunatique." Eve said from behind him, and Surg tilted his head, his smile turning quizzical as he looked at her.

"You're the infamous Golden Darkness, aren't you?" he asked, and she shifted in her spot, clearly uncomfortable with the name.

"Not anymore. I am simply Eve now. Please don't refer to my past, I would prefer to keep it buried."

 _I don't think that's possible if what Tsubaki said about Gid is true._ Hiro thought, before shaking his head. There was no reason to be getting angry at the tiny king right now.

He grabbed her hand lightly and smiled at Surg. "Well, we have to go, we came to pick up someone and we're already late."

Surg grinned, nodding and stepping out of the way. "I got to meet Eve, legendary across the universe. This'll be a story to tell the family back in Europa."

Eve rolled her eyes as the two hurried through the crowd to their destination.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

"So what exactly does she look like?" Eve asked, looking around at the many people gathered around the conveyor belts carrying luggage in the middle of the room. "You never showed us a picture or anything."

He nodded. "Black hair, brown eyes, about 173 centimeters. She kind of looks like Yukihime, sort of."

"Green eyes?" Eve asked, referencing their conversation a while back on her own odd genetics, and Hiro nodded.

"Silver is a recessive trait, far as I know I'm the only one in the family who's shown it. The basic eye color of Nakamuras has been brown for as far back as I know our family tree goes. It's probably the same with you, you don't have green eyes like Tearju-sensei after all."

Eve hummed to herself in response, before Hiro waved to someone.

"Yo, Yuri-chan!" he called, and the woman turned around and grinned, shifting the bags she carried so she could get a better balance as she turned.

"Hiro! Is that you?" she asked, trudging up to them, though she seemed to have difficulty walking thanks to how many bags she was carrying. "You're taller than I expected!"

She dropped her bags to push up the large rounded glasses she wore over her face, grinning as she noticed Eve next to him. "Oh, you must be Eve!" she said.

Eve looked at her, confusion written on her face. "I...I expected you to be younger, Yuri-sama."

The woman laughed, walking up and slinging her arm over Hiro's shoulder, pointing a thumb at herself. "Did you think I could to Japan alone if I was the same age as this knucklehead? Nah, I'm 26 this October!"

Eve blinked. "You're...an adult?" she asked, and Yuri nodded.

"Yep! Finishing up my final year at the University of Manitoba! I'm majoring in biology, and I came here to do a thesis on xenobiology!" Her grin suddenly seemed much more calculating than before. "That means I'm going to study aliens."


	64. Random Encounters

"...Yuri-sama, would you please stop doing that? You're making me uncomfortable." Eve complained, glancing back behind her, where Yuri had procured a pair of large rounded glasses and a magnifying glass and was currently holding a strand of the hair that gave the Trans her nickname up to the instrument.

"But it's interesting! I've heard so much about you guys from Hiro, so I've been dying to meet you!"

"You seem more interested in my hair than in me." Eve pointed out, and Yuri laughed.

"I'm a scientist by heart, when I heard that your hair has the highest concentration of nanomachines, I just really wanted to see what it was like!" She held up the strands she was holding, before letting them drop down through her fingers, and they fell to the girl's back with the rest. "I'm surprised, they look normal under a regular magnifying glass...I need to study them with a microscope later!"

Eve's eye twitched as she looked back at the Canadian-raised girl. "Hiro-san, your cousin is annoying." she said, and Hiro laughed, holding a hand to Yuri's shoulder, and she grinned at him, her brown eyes seeming to be stretched by the wide lens of her glasses.

"Yuri-nee, Eve is outwardly basically exactly human, you aren't going to find any differences between her and anyone else while she's not using Trance. Just hold off on studying her, okay? You can get plenty of data for your thesis from Nemesis, and I bet Momo would be happy to help too."

Yuri hummed to herself, tapping her chin with the magnifying glass. "Hmm…Okay!" she said, setting the device back into one of the bags she carried, though her load was now less since it was distributed between the three. "But only because you called me 'Yuri-nee', I've always wanted to be called that!"

Hiro laughed, and Eve made a small smile. "When was the last time you used an honorific for a family member?" she asked. "Mirai, I'm assuming?"

Hiro blinked, and Yuri tilted her head. "Mirai? Who's that?" she asked, and Hiro laughed, noticeably nervously.

"Uhh...Eve, I have something to tell you about Mirai…" he said, and she looked at him, an unreadable expression on her face.

"Yes, what about her?" she asked.

"Well...She kind of never existed…" he explained, and Eve stared at him, frowning slightly.

"So, this little one-year-old sister that was killed in front of you and that you used as a catalyst along with Mea to force me into Darkness...never existed?" she asked, and he nodded, rubbing the back of his head.

"Yeah, that's about it…" he said, and she sighed and shook her head, looking forward as they walked.

"I'll fly Yuri-sama to Sainan, but you can take a train." she said, though she didn't sound particularly annoyed...more passive aggressive. "You can handle these bags for me too, I have a weight limit, after all."

She dumped the bags she was carrying onto Hiro, who groaned as his knees bent under the added weight. "I...guess I kind of deserve that…" he said, sighing, and from beside them, Yuri laughed, the kind of laugh you'd expect from her type of slightly dorky person.

"If this is how you interact with just one extraterrestrial, I can't wait to see what it's like with the others!" she exclaimed, and Eve, now free of baggage, looked at her.

"You sound as racist as Hiro used to be, except yours is reversed." she commented. "You act as if us aliens are special. We really aren't. There's far more of us than humans, just not on this planet."

Yuri tilted her head and adjusted her large glasses. "That's no fun, I'm just here for scientific curiosity, I have no prejudices toward you or any extraterrestrial!" she said.

"Then go to Mikado-sensei, she has a database of every known species and all their biological data...Good luck convincing her to show it to you, though, a lot of it's top secret stuff that only Devilukean high-borns are allowed to see."

"But I don't want biological data, I want to observe how they act! It's no fun to just look at graphs and copy and paste stuff, I want my thesis to be dynamic!" She smiled. "Hiro, you're coming when I present it after the summer, right?"

Hiro laughed. "I may be busy, we'll have to see. There's a lot going on in Sainan, even not including all the aliens."

BREAKBREAKBREAK

Hiro sighed as he stood on the train, holding onto the bar at the ceiling in order to stabilize himself in the crowd, tightening his grip on one of the bags he'd been saddled with by Eve.

He shook his head in annoyance. "Guess I kind of deserve this…" he said to himself as he watched through the window of the train as Eve grabbed Yuri's waist and launched off, her wings appearing on her back and flapping to give her the lift she needed to get in the air.

Flying would have been so much easier, but she was right, it would have been too much for her to carry. She may be able to handle the weight, but flight is far more delicate than simply being able to carry something...It was amazing enough that she could carry one person, let alone a bunch of baggage as well.

Yuri had a lot of stuff, and Hiro didn't really want to know what she'd filled all those bags with.

He glanced to the side at a commotion going on nearby at the door to the train, and he had to stop himself from laughing out loud at the sight.

One of the train workers, a tall, oddly muscular green Balkean, was trying to push away someone trying to get in. It only took one glance to recognize Zastin, wearing a shirt with the phrase "Xebec" written in Romanized characters and evidently carrying the giant neon green sword he always carried with him. Did he seriously think he could enter a train with that weapon?

"Sir, please, you are not allowed to enter with a dangerous weapon like that…" the Balkean said, his voice raspy and with a clear tone of nervousness as he stared at the sword.

Hiro made his way to the door, waving a hand after setting the bags on the ground. "I'll vouch for him." he told the Balkean, who looked at him with a confused expression. "He's heading to Sainan. Devilukean."

The Balkean blinked, before stepping aside to let in the general-turned-mangaka, who sighed, bowing slightly to the boy.

"Thank you, Hiro-kun." he said. "This same thing happened in Los Angeles as well…It seems that offworlders are not fully accepted everywhere, despite Japan becoming a haven for them."

Hiro sweatdropped. "Yeah...Sure…" he said. It was true that the United States was still very against extraterrestrials, but he was pretty sure that wasn't why he'd been stopped at customs.

He turned to the Balkean. "But I'm more surprised to see a Balkean working on a train…" he said, and the worker blinked, before his fanged mouth lifted in a grin, and he set one of his long clawed hands on the back of his head, his eyes closing in a comical sheepish expression.

"Was the only job I could get, and I don't have the money to get back home…" he said.

Zastin nodded, crossing his arms, the motion causing his sword to shake slightly at his waist, and the Balkean glanced at it nervously. "What is your name, good sir?" he asked.

"...Ghi Bree…" the Balkean said. "But, eh...It doesn't really matter, I just work here." He shook his head, crossing his arms and putting on a clearly forced serious expression. "You're lucky your friend vouched for you, normally we don't allow weapons...But Devilukeans get exceptions, at least, that's what my contract says…"

Hiro blinked. "The owner of the train line has alien exceptions?" he asked, and Ghi Bree nodded.

"That's how I got a job here, and am allowed to use this form...I don't like playing human."

"You're paid to vet threats, not run your mouth." a female voice called, and the alien eeped, jumping in his place before turning around practically shaking at the source of the voice: a woman, dressed in a blue conductor's uniform. "Is that everyone?" she asked, eyeing Zastin's sword for a split second, before turning her attention back to the easily-scared Balkean, who nodded, and she nodded back, waving a hand and shouting over the crowd in the direction of the front of the car, and the train began to move, the doors beginning to close as the transport began its journey.

"Wait!" shouted someone, and Hiro looked out at the still partially open doors. Outside, running to catch the train, was a young girl, with short black hair and the Sainan High uniform. "Stop the train!"

Ghi Bree shivered in his spot. "I'm sorry, we can't stop, you'll have to wait for the next one…" he said apologetically, as his superior looked on from behind him, her arms crossed. Hiro couldn't tell if she was posing in annoyance or simply professionalism.

"I can't wait!" the girl called, and Hiro's, and Ghi Bree's, eyes widened as a veritable tornado of fire erupted from her hands, turned away from her and propelling her forward, sending her flying into the door just as it closed...and she went tumbling directly into Hiro, who collapsed under her momentum, sending the bags he still carried flying.

Hiro groaned as he lay under the girl. If his body wasn't reinforced by the Trans resistance he'd developed from so many Trans-Fusions with Nemesis, he'd no doubt be unconscious right now, with a possible concussion. As it was, he froze as he realized the...provocative position he was in right now, with the girl lying on top of him and pretty much all the nearby people, including Ghi Bree and the conductor, staring at him, though Zastin was ignoring him...Probably used to such an event after being around Yuuki-senpai for so long.

They remained in that position for several moments, before the girl groaned, straddling him involuntarily as she sat up and looked around, before looking down, and, when she realized what they must have looked like, her face lit up in a blush as she jumped up.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" she said, practically shouting and repeatedly bowing at him.

He laughed, standing up, before squatting to pick up the bags he'd dropped. "No problem, I've got a pretty high pain tolerance." he said, deciding to pretend that what had just happened hadn't actually occurred.

"Flame capabilities are not allowed on the train." the conductor said, though Ghi Bree was too nervous to say the same thing, and the girl looked at her, before doing what seemed to be a salute, one finger touching her forehead, while her thumb pointed out, the other fingers balled together.

"Sorry about that, I wasn't planning to use it...I just had to catch the train, I've got a gig less than half an hour from when it gets to Sainan."

"What is this 'gig' for?" the woman asked, and the girl nodded.

"The next episode of a TV show I star in. I was supposed to be taken there privately...but my chauffeur was sick…"

The woman's eye twitched in annoyance. "You...wouldn't happen to be Kirisaki Kyouko, would you?" she asked, her voice clearly filled with irritation.

"That's me!" the fire girl said, and the woman sighed, her hand meeting her forehead, and she shook her head.

"Fine, fine...I hate that stupid show, my son is always watching it at full volume. I hate that perverted nonsense."


	65. Nymph's Mission

Hiro watched through the window as the scenery passed by the train. It had been a long time since he'd gone by train anywhere, since he'd spent most of his life in Sainan. He'd missed it, to be honest. It was a nice way of transport, nobody bothered you despite the crowd and you got a good view of the world around you.

He sighed in annoyance, turning to face Kyouko, who had been standing next to him the entire trip so far. "Why exactly have you been staring at me?" he asked, and she blinked.

"Oh, sorry...It's just that your eyes are strange. I've never seen silver before. Are you an alien too?"

He shrugged. "I was born fully human, my eyes are just strange." he replied. "But nowadays, I'm not sure what to call myself. Is it normal to ask people what their heritage is on a public train?"

She blinked. "Oh, sorry again, I tend to start firing off questions when I'm curious…" she said, and he chuckled.

"I can see why you're an actor." he said. "You've got that same spirit that Run does."

"Oh, you know Run-chan?" she asked, and he nodded.

"I go to Sainan High as a freshman. I don't recognize you though, sorry."

She blinked in confusion, before looking down at her uniform, and laughed. "Oh, I wasn't a student until recently, I only transferred a week ago because the show's being filmed in Sainan now instead of Maken, so my producers said I should transfer...plus, that's the school Run-chan's going to!"

Hiro nodded, only half-listening to her ranting as he looked back out the window, and after a few minutes, she fell silent, much to his relief.

"...Hey. You said you don't know what you are anymore." she said suddenly, her voice now serious...a tone that didn't fit her personality in the slightest.

He looked at her. "Don't worry about it. It doesn't really matter, unless you know who Nemesis is."

Kyouko blinked. "N-Nemesis?!" she asked, her voice raised and shrill, and he flinched at the proximity to his ears...he could understand why Nemesis and Eve hated it when he had the TV on a high volume now, there was a downside to having advanced senses.

"I guess that means you know her." he said, and she nodded.

"I heard she attacked the school last year! What happened?!"

He waved a hand to quiet her before she could launch into a thousand questions. "That's in the past, Nemesis is cool now. Even Momo's friends with her now, she isn't a threat anymore." He pointed a thumb at himself. "I've been partnered with her as a host body for a while, she's safe. That's probably why you didn't knock me unconscious when you barreled into me like that, I've built up a resistance from her Trance."

"So when you said you aren't sure what you are…"

"I meant that I'm still technically human, but I also am partly Trans. It's...confusing."

"...Who exactly are you, to be able to control Nemesis? She was like the main antagonist a few months ago!" Kyouko said in disbelief, and he laughed.

"Nakamura Hiro. And I don't control her, she's my friend." He shook his head. "No, to us, we're the same as each other. We couldn't have secrets even if we wanted to."

Kyouko was silent, before smiling and looking out the window. "That sounds nice." she said. "Don't really have many people I'm close to other than Run-chan."

"What about your producers and the other actors?" he asked, and she shivered.

"We keep it professional." she said, before sighing in what seemed to be relief. "There used to be this one fat little man who was constantly harassing me on set, but he seems to have vanished since December."

Hiro laughed, instantly recognizing who she was talking about. The previous principal of Sainan High, who had vanished during the Darkness Incident...and it seemed that nobody, himself included, particularly cared where he'd gone. Probably arrested in some random city after being dropped off by Darkness's portals.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

The sisters acting as Gid's messengers stood in front of the two crew members of the small ship.

"Who are you?" Gin'iro asked the shorter of the two, the odd Angelite that now was practically more machine than organic after all the modifications Deviluke's research foundation had added to her.

The woman knew her name already. She had memorized every bit of data on the Angelite, but the question was routine. It was her first mission, her specs had to be tested.

The teal-haired alien nodded. "I am Nymph, a special forces agent serving directly under Gid Lucione Deviluke, as well as a subject intended as a test of new neural technology."

Gin'iro nodded as Kin'iro spoke. "Run systems diagnostics." she said, and Nymph nodded again.

"All systems green. Radio receivers active. Sensory matrix fully functional." she said robotically, her voice so flat that the gold-haired woman found it easy to forget that this girl in front of her was actually more intelligent than she was...and that she was about as robotic as Gid himself, personality-wise.

"What is your mission?" Kin'iro asked, while Gin'iro observed the obviously bored Azenda standing next to the cyborg.

"To ensure that Hiro Nakamura of Earth will succeed in his battle against Tsubaki Dirnu, a Class B criminal hailing from Ragna."

"And Azenda, hopefully we don't need to tell you what your mission is." Gin'iro said, and the tanned assassin groaned, holding a hand on the handle of her whip.

"Of course I do. I've got to protect this squirt and make sure she doesn't go rogue, right?" she replied in an annoyed tone. "Don't see why it's my job, I was told I could go back to Talha after capturing her, why is it my job to babysit one of Gid's toys?"

"You are bound to Deviluke after that embarrassment when you got involved with Nemesis." Kin'iro replied. "You were explicitly told not to be a part of her plans, and yet you followed her anyway. For that, you must do as we wish until Master decides that you are worth releasing."

Azenda tched. "Shortstack has too much power." she complained, before shrugging. "Fine. But couldn't you have taught this kid to fly a ship or something? It'll take years if it's just me doing everything, I'm not familiar with Deviluke's chain portal network."

"She does not know how to fly the model we provided you, but her navigational capabilities are exceptional. She will guide you to the proper portals, and you will arrive on Earth within a month."

Azenda glanced at Nymph, who bowed to her in an exaggerated pose, though her face was serious, making it difficult for the assassin to tell if she was mocking her.

It really didn't help that this weird alien was immune to her psychic abilities. Truth be told, Nymph freaked her out.

"There is one more thing." Kin'iro said, catching Azenda's attention again. "Eve Lunatique, the former assassin you know as Konjiki no Yami, will likely be around Hiro at all times."

Azenda grinned. "Oh, I see, so I get-"

She was interrupted by Kin'iro continuing. "You are not to engage her." she said, and Azenda frowned. "The last time you fought against her, you had the upper hand because she was weakened and you had the advantage of her best friend being nearby, but this time, you don't stand a chance. We are well aware of your grudge against her, but as she is now, you would be erased in an instant."

"What could possibly be that different from last time?!" Azenda asked, both in surprise and annoyance, and the sisters glanced at each other.

They spoke at the same time, in the creepy synchrony they often spoke with. "She is SS class. You are hardly C-class."

Azenda tched again, before turning around. "Come on, Nymph, let's get this over with. I hate long flights." she said as she got into the small ship. "As soon as we're out of the system I'm autopiloting and going to cryostasis. Do whatever it is you feel like doing for the month."

Nymph tilted her head in confusion as she sat next to the older assassin. "It is a Yamatai-class ship. There is no cryostasis system." she said.

Azenda growled in annoyance. "Screw you, Gid." she said as the cockpit window closed, sealing them in the airtight room.

"Do you think she'll survive the trip?" Gin'iro asked as the launch sequence began.

"2,000 credits says Nymph ditches her on Trappist-1g, sister." Kin'iro responded.


	66. Regrouping

**It's the end of the revamping, so there will finally be no more chapters getting cut out! Hope you all enjoy the new and improved Evil Eye starting at this point!**

* * *

Hiro could feel the irritation rising in his chest when he noticed Eve and Yuri waiting at the train station. He was almost at the door, so almost as soon as the train had stopped and the doors began to open, he bolted out, groaning as he stood on the ground in front of the two.

Yuri adjusted her large glasses as Yuri grinned. "Dizzy?" she asked, and he nodded.

"Why am I dizzy? I was perfectly fine earlier…" he complained, and the first Trans laughed.

"You're becoming more like us. Why do you think I fly everywhere? Can't stand public transport."

"Oh, that's new information." Zastin said, walking from the train, and next to him, Kyouko waved to Eve.

"It's been a while, Yami-chan!" she said, and Eve shook her head.

"It's Eve now, Kirisaki-san." she replied, before smiling. "Last time I saw you, you were getting out of a closet with Yuuki Rito."

Kyouko blinked, and Hiro could visibly see a line going up her head, turning her face as red as a tomato. "Y-You...saw that?" she asked, and Eve laughed, while Yuri giggled confusedly next to her.

"Don't worry, my lips are sealed...Though I doubt you'll escape Momo-san's plans."

"Oh, you don't call her 'Princess Momo' anymore?" Zastin asked, stepping forward.

Eve shook her head. "There is no need. I never call the other sisters 'princess', so why do it with her? Besides...I'm trying to be more approachable now. Calling people by their rank is a bit strange, isn't it?"

Hiro laughed. "You're not being very approachable by sitting on the floor next to me every day at school." he said.

"Would someone explain what's going on?" Yuri asked. "What are you all talking about?" She pointed at Zastin and Kyouko. "Are you aliens too?"

Hiro sighed, his hand meeting his forehead. "You don't just ask people if they're aliens…" he said, though neither subject seemed particularly worried about the question.

"Yep! Kirisaki Kyouko, half-human, half-Flamian." Kyouko replied, and Yuri stared, before grabbing one of the packs Hiro was carrying and pulling out a notebook, flipping it open to write down in very rapid text what Kyouko had said.

"Flamian...I've never heard of that one before…" she said to herself. "Canada's pretty strict about anti-extraterrestrial laws, so it's hard to study them...but that's why I came to Japan! The first official alien haven country!"

Kyouko grinned, and Zastin smiled. "And I'm assuming you know what a Devilukean is. Usually they're the first alien species humans learn about, other than Greys." He frowned. "I hate those ones, they've got such underdeveloped morals that they consider probing normal."

Yuri continued writing, and Hiro caught glimpses of 'Devilukean', 'Greys', and other terms that he didn't understand, what he assumed were terms Yuri used for things...written entirely in English. Well, it did make sense, she was raised Canadian after all.

"Eve, how much did you tell her while you were flying?" Hiro asked, and the gold-haired alien shrugged.

"Not much, I was concentrating on flying. It's difficult to do so with all the bags she insisted of taking herself."

Yuri grinned. "Sorry about that, I just have a lot of stuff I wanted to bring. I'll be here for a while after all!"

Eve sweatdropped. "How long exactly is she going to be staying with us?" she asked, and Hiro laughed.

"The whole summer, probably. She's doing a thesis on aliens after all, she'll be here a while while she does her research. Please help her if it's not too much trouble."

"Well, if you tell me to, I guess I'll try…" Eve said, though she was clearly not happy with it. Hiro understood her concerns, Yuri was clearly not normal, if the weird glasses and constant grin weren't enough to tell.

"Oh, you have that much command over her?" Zastin asked, and Hiro sighed.

"Where were you the last few months? She's changed a lot."

"I was on Deviluke, so I apologize if I missed something important."

BREAKBREAKBREAK

Hiro sighed as he watched the staring contest between Momo and Yuri, sitting on opposite sofas and watching each other.

"I've rarely seen her so focused on anything…" Nemesis said. "This Yuri girl is something else, isn't she?"

He laughed, lightly tapping the meganeko's shoulder. "I think you're freaking Nemesis out." she said.

The woman's grin widened. "I've never seen someone with naturally pink hair before…" she said, before suddenly jumping up, wrapping her arms around a surprised Momo's neck. "So cute!"

Momo stared forward at nothing in surprise. "...What the heck is happening?" she asked, and Hiro laughed.

"She likes you, I guess. I don't know half the things she talks about, so I just kind of let her do her thing…"

"I can't see how you two are related. You sure one of you isn't adopted?" Nana asked, walking in from the open kitchen. "I came to visit to see what Mr. Trance's cousin was like, and I expected moody and depressing like you used to be. I didn't expect my sister to be stuck in a hug five minutes after coming in."

Hiro laughed as Yuri cooed over the short-haired Devilukean. "Her parents are still alive and well, though we don't exactly talk. Her dad, my mom's brother, wasn't exactly a fan of my dad."

Yuri laughed. "Dad's a jerk, I was happy to leave for college! It's so much more free without him around!" She finally broke free from Momo, who sat panting heavily in attempt to regain her breath from how tightly she was being squeezed. "He doesn't like that I want to work with aliens, he's one of those super-conservative people who don't like change...But I think they're really cool, I want to become a xenobiologist!"

"They only became officially recognized like two months ago, do you really think there's already a field for that?" Hiro asked, and Yuri blinked.

"Well, there is a field, but it's not a human-lead one. Mikado-sensei is a xenobiologist...though she's on a whole different level from anyone else." Eve pointed out. "Perhaps she'd be willing to take you on, she would be better at explaining much more than we can."

Yuri laughed, shaking her head. "She sounds interesting, I'd like to meet her...but I want to make my thesis on observing aliens, not on previously-written records! I'll take basic info on your species, but I want to draw my own conclusions so I can show my professors that I know what I'm doing! I'd be happy to do both though!"

Hiro laughed. "I'm sure Mikado-sensei would love your eccentricity. Might freak Oshizu-chan out though, she's still not that great around people. 400 years as a ghost does that to people."

"A ghost? So there's not just aliens?" Yuri asked, and he nodded.

"Also there's mole-people that Lala discovered a couple years ago, and a few others...but they're not really that important. I think the mole-people are extinct now anyway, she set off a volcano or something underground and wiped them out."

"...That...sounds like something she'd do." Momo said, as Nana stared at him. "It wouldn't be the first time she's accidentally wiped out a civilization."

Yuri looked between them, her eyes wide in her round glasses. "Lala sounds hardcore...Didn't you describe her as an 'airheaded genius' in your texts though?"

Hiro laughed. "Yeah, I did...but sometimes, people are more than they seem. Look at Eve. Eve, what's your body count at this point?"

The Trans thought it over. "Hmm...28,745, or 46, depending if you count Lacospo...if you don't include the 10 billion on Hyuron when I was in Darkness state the first time."

Yuri gaped, as did the other aliens, as well as Yukihime, who had just walked in the door...reminding Hiro that he really needed to remember to lock it more often.

As she looked over the various reactions, Eve shrugged. "Considering my age and the total number of sentient organisms across the universe, that number hasn't put a dent in the amount that died in the Galactic War, or the current population of the universe."

"...Aliens are more violent than I thought." Yuri said.

"Did you think they were more peaceful than humans? They just do everything on a bigger scale, that's all. Trust me, you'll see eventually, someone is going to attack us." Maybe Tsubaki, maybe someone else, you never knew when you lived with aliens.


	67. Evil Eye Revamped (Author's Note)

**It's been a long time since I've touched on this. I bet those of you who still care have been confused on where the chapters have been, haven't you? I promised that I'd be making them longer and more often, and yet I've fallen from it, even though I have said before that this is my biggest project ever!**

 **I do apologize for seemingly being on hiatus for so long. As some of my longer-term readers from years past will know, I have a tendency to abandon stories after a few months of not writing, and this isn't the first time EE has been in danger of becoming one of those.**

 **Of course, as EE is my longest-planned and widest-scoped project, I plan to continue it, and in order to force myself back into the groove of it, I have decided that for this year's June 26th Mass Upload, I'll focus almost entirely on a resurgence in the story!**

 **I set high plans for myself in order to bring the story back to its former importance on my profile, and while I know that it has a very small following, especially when compared to my most popular story King of Commoners, the people who've stuck with it this long have seen the starting point of when I truly got decent at writing my fics. I have no idea if the early birds from the first dozen chapters are still reading, but I'll just say that this revamp is dedicated to them...especially Miknel-san, the first repeat reviewer I ever had in any of my stories!**

 **In this update, I will complete the last chapter or so of the Yuri arc, and write the next arc...and after that, it's a countdown to the end of part 1! As well as these new chapters, I will be combining chapters together that don't meet the standards I set for my other stories (900 words minimum per chapter)! This means that it will be much shorter chapter-wise, though the word count will be the same...perhaps that will help bring some new people to the community as well!**

 **This also couples as the anniversary of when Evil Eye was first uploaded! Give a shoutout if you remember the OG first 8 chapters! In fact, to celebrate the story's 1-year anniversary, I will also finally rewrite that god-awful first chapter I did!**

 **I hope you all enjoy! Live on, Hiro, and may the fights be destructive but few!**

 **~Xyrule**


	68. Back in Action

It took less than two weeks for Yuri to become just another part of the family. It turned out that her weirdness matched perfectly with the oddity of everyone else living there. After all, the house was already filled with freaks of nature.

An assassin-turned-bodyguard who had lived alone for 23,000 years. A tiny girl able to transform her whole body at will. Her half-human, half-alien host body. The Demon of Deviluke who frequently visited, sometimes dragging her tsundere sister along. Yuri's obsessive behavior relating to aliens fit right in like a puzzle piece.

Now, she occupied Nemesis's room, the boxes still stacked in a fortress that could only fit the alien when she was in her favored cat form. Yuri had promised not to touch the cardboard castle, of which not a single box had been opened. Nemesis knew better than to go looking through them, or else she may find something that would remind Hiro of his parents again. No one wanted to see him go back to the shell he was before, not now that he was almost normal, at least, personality-wise.

Nemesis had initially complained until Momo had pointed out that she could sleep with Hiro, and after the suggestion, they now slept in the same bed, Nemesis living inside of the boy's mind throughout the night. The resistance she once felt from his body when she invaded him had gone after months of them frequently doing this, and now, they were perfectly compatible.

"We're two minds, but the same body." Hiro had said once, when Yuri asked about their relationship with each other. "It's not romantic, or sexual, or even just spiritual. We're just...the same person."

It was something he couldn't put into words, and Nemesis was equally at a loss when asked. They just... _were_. There was nothing more to it.

Little of interest happened over the course of the first month Yuri was living with them. Tsubaki was quiet, and while Haruhi had strict observation over her house using her other spies for Gid's as yet unnamed project, whose goals even the lead spy barely knew, there had been nothing to report of interest. The Ragnarian had been silent for a long time, recuperating from her last attempt to attack and continuing to go to school.

The idea of the alien going to a normal elementary school was funny to think about, but it became concerning when they found out that Hoshigaki Elementary, the school that Haruhi had confirmed the serial killer was attending, was right next to Sainan First Elementary, where Mikan attended, though now, she had graduated and would be in Sainan High in the fall.

Hiro had also ended his school year along with the others in his class, and next year, Yuuki-senpai, who had grown to enjoy Nemesis's random appearances near his house, would be a senior, while Hiro was beginning his sophomore year.

Of course, right now, none of that mattered, because summer had begun. Nemesis was hardest hit by the change as Hiro stopped going out often, her natural need for entertainment driving her farther and farther from the house in search of new things to explore. The hunger for exploration that she'd felt back when she was still aiming for Earth's destruction still existed in her, and that spark simply couldn't be extinguished by Hiro's stability-loving personality. Though the two were of one body much of the time, they still had their differences, a fact that Yuri picked up on as she focused on the petite Trans.

The woman had been initially, and understandably, freaked out the first time Nemesis had entered Hiro's body in her presence, and for the next three days she'd focused almost all of her research on simply the fact that only his left eye changed from silver to gold when she entered, ignoring their explanation that he preferred his right eye anyway and so it made sense to give the alien control of his left when she needed to see.

As time passed and Yuri's time in Japan reached two months in length, she mellowed out over time, accepting that none of the aliens she studied always wanted to be watched by the glasses-wearing girl. Eve especially pointed out that she'd find more information if she left them to do what they normally did...Which promptly lead to the college student spending seven hours watching the gold-haired Trans reading manga.

It was quite the sight to see the Japanese-Canadian chased by a giant Trans-hair hand that day.

~~~At the Nakamura Household~~~

Nemesis sighed exasperatedly as she hung over Hiro's lap, kicking the arm of the couch as he calmly played on his phone. "I'm booored…" she complained. "It's hot outside and there's nothing that I haven't been to already…"

"Then go and bother Yuuki-senpai again." Yukihime said, standing at the kitchen island with a half-mixed bowl of some doughy food. The girl had started coming over more frequently after school had ended, and Hiro no longer cared enough to reject her every time, so whenever she came over, he just let her do her thing. He had not forgotten his promise to try to include her in Tsubaki's Game, and while he still had a ways to go, he was getting better with letting go of his irrational anger at her.

"I don't wanna, and I think he's on Deviluke anyway with Momo and the others…" Nemesis complained to the one human oof the group, who sighed, holding up the dough-covered mixing spoon she held in one hand.

"Why is he going too? Doesn't Gid have some sort of prejudice against him?" she asked, and Nemesis shrugged.

"He does not." Eve said, not even looking up from the manga...To LOVE-ru, where she was currently at the Darkness Incident. Yuuki Saibai had very accurately predicted how the attack would go, it seemed. "He is much like Nana, in that he cannot show his own emotions very well. He accepted Yuuki-san a long time ago."

Gid Lucione Deviluke, the current King of the Devilukean Empire, and one of the longest-reigning kings in the universe's history. The man was an enigma wrapped in a mystery to the group. Haruhi was the only one not actually related to Deviluke in some way, shape, or form to have even seen his face, and while she knew that he wasn't a threat to Hiro's desire to destroy Tsubaki, his true motivations were completely unknown.

What did his project actually entail? Tsubaki had given them little information about it other than that it somehow involved Hiro and the Trans, but why would he be involved at all? Before meeting Nemesis, he was a nondescript, generic bad-backstory protagonist, so what changed? Had anything changed? Gid was known for manipulating family trees before, was he simply a product of that?

But that didn't make sense. Again according to Haruhi, Gid hated Tsubaki for nearly ruining the project, and wanted her dead as much as Hiro did, but despite that hatred, the man had not sent any soldiers to take out the girl. Hiro knew that it would be easy to dispose of her with Deviluke's massive resources and connection to Ragna, her home planet, and yet, not only did Deviluke have a total inaction against her, Haruhi and her spies had been directly told not to engage her. What was the man planning? And why had even Haruhi, his most invaluable spy, not been informed of the actual purpose, or even the name, of his supposed most important project?

"I know what we can do!" Yuri said, grinning as she walked out from the hallway into the house, stretching her arm behind her head. "It's summer, and what do we do in the summer that's a bad idea during the school year?"

"I swear to God, if you say we should study bugs again…" Hiro said, and she laughed.

"No, silly. Let's go to the beach!"


	69. A Lack of Fun

"The beach, huh?" Hiro asked, and blinked as he heard the sound of Eve's book hitting the ground, looking at the girl with a bored expression, and blinked again at the odd look in her eyes. "You okay there, Eve?"

She stared at the ground for several moments as if she hadn't heard him, her eyes wide and her hands trembling, before she blinked and looked up, turning her head to face him, the odd fit seeming to have vanished.

"...I'm...sorry." she said, sighing. "Just a...reaction. The last few times I've worn a swimsuit, things did not go well…" she replied, and Hiro blinked, before laughing.

"That's probably because you were with Yuuki-senpai, the ecchi magnet." he replied. "It'll be fine, don't worry. A trip to the beach will help all of us anyway, we need a lift in spirits anyway. I have to agree with Nemesis, it's gotten boring around here."

Nemesis blinked, looking up at him from her spot lying chest-down over his lap. "So...what's the beach like?" she asked innocently.

"...Have you never been there?" Hiro asked in surprise, and she blinked.

"I was in Mea's body, drifting through space for a decade." the girl replied. "Of course I haven't."

The boy blinked, before laughing. "Then I guess we'll have to go, won't we? The beach is somewhere everyone has to go at least once after all!" Using Mea's name so casually barely brought on a reaction from him anymore...What had happened had happened, there was no point lingering on it this long after the fact.

Eve sighed, bending down to pick up her book and, after finding her page, folded the corner and closed it. "If you believe that nothing will happen, then I'll go." she said. "But if Yuri-san tries to peek under my swimsuit, she's going for a trip to the stratosphere."

Hiro laughed, while Yuri stared as if she was shocked, an expression that was unfounded considering the woman's habits. "I'm a scientist, not a pervert!" she defended. "I know you're physically human, there'd be no point in doing that!"

"The beach sounds fun." Yukihime said, jumping in to stop the conversation from derailing as talking to Yuri typically caused. "I need to let this cake chill for a while anyway, we can go now!"

Hiro looked back, pushing his knee up to force Nemesis to get off his lap. "What's the occasion?" he asked. "For making a cake."

Yukihime shrugged. "No occasion, I just felt like making one. My mom said it was a good idea to try it next time I came here."

"Oh, how are your parents doing? I heard your dad's been gone for a while."

She nodded. "Yeah, business trip in China. I barely even know what he does, but he'll probably be back by July."

Hiro nodded, humming to himself as he turned to face Nemesis, who now sat up next to him. "Do you even own a swimsuit? We met in winter after all…"

The girl grinned, and her body glowed, signalling a transformation, and when it faded, she wore a white swimsuit, similar to the blue ones that Sainan High issued to its female students. "I particularly liked this one when I took Mea's body back during the Darkness Incident, is it fine for public though?"

Hiro smiled, his hand going to rub the top of her head, and she grinned under the hand. "Yeah, it's fine. Makes you look even more like a little kid than usual, but hey, to each their own."

Nemesis puffed her cheeks, if only to accentuate her childish appearance. "I'm older than you! I'll be an adult by your world's backwards standards soon!"

"Yes, but I'll never see you as an adult. You'll always be my innocent half."

"I'm not innocent either!"

~~~Timeskip~~~

Hiro held a hand carrying a bag of towels over his eyes, blinking at the bright sunlight reflecting off the sand. He sighed as he looked at where they'd come from...a flat area where Nemesis and Eve had landed the group. "Did we really need to go to an isolated area? There wouldn't be any problem with just going to Suma…"

"Tarui is less crowded, so I decided to go there, and I wanted to stretch my wings, so going where other people are is a problem, isn't it?" Eve asked, and he shrugged.

Yuri answered for him, shifting her glasses on her face. "Japan's laws on extraterrestrials are really lax nowadays after they were confirmed by the government." she said. "It would be an odd sight for the normal citizens here, but it's not something unheard of. You're not the only flying species after all."

Eve nodded as she accepted the explanation. "Well, I'm not carrying you two out of here until we're actually leaving. It's hard to take two people, my balance gets all screwed up."

"Yeah, and I guess some less experienced fliers have even more trouble…" Yukihime said, looking down at Nemesis, who lay panting on the ground. The human sweatdropped, pushing the girl with her foot. "Come on, I'm not that heavy…"

"Yes...you...are." Nemesis said. "I should have...Trans-Fused…"

Hiro chuckled at the Trans's misfortune. "But didn't you say that you and Yukihime are extremely incompatible?" he asked, and the grounded girl blinked.

"..." She didn't respond, simply lying on the ground in an effort to catch her breath...An odd sight, since Hiro was sure she didn't actually need to breathe. Having a body composed of dark matter somewhat negates most physical requirements.

Deciding to ignore her suffering, he looked over the beach, grinning. "Looks fun...but there aren't really any changing stations here. We didn't exactly get enough time to change before you two launched us here."

He blinked as five blades sprouted from Eve's hair. "I can change you all in less than three seconds using my Trance." she said. "As long as you hold still."

Yukihime gulped at the sight, while Hiro simply assumed it was normal for her, and Yuri's eyes glinted in excitement at the prospect of witnessing another use of the girl's power. "Are...are you sure that's safe?" she asked.

Eve looked at her with a confused expression. "I have done it for Yuuki Rito and myself many times." she replied. "Even when I was still Yami and did not have the power of Darkness fully at my control, I was able to use my Trance in as delicate a situation as needed. I can use it to turn a page of a book or cut a single strand of hair. You have nothing to worry about."

"...But you also have used it to chop off heads and level a forest…" Yukihime said, unconvinced.

"I have never decapitated anyone. My preferred method of assassination was a simple stab through the chest. Decapitation takes too much effort to be efficient, as the neck is a small target as compared to the chest. That is true of every living species, sentient or not."


	70. The Obligatory Beach Chapter

Discussion of Eve's assassination techniques aside, she had not been lying when she'd said she could quickly change the entire group in seconds. Where as Yami she could have changed one or two people at once, now, with the boosted power and speed of Black Dragon, she worked so quickly that Yuri had hardly enough time to process what had happened, much less to mentally record the Trans's process.

For a being built for combat, Eve really did have many more mundane uses.

Now, the group were all in the swimsuits they'd chosen to take with them. Nemesis simply wore the white school-style suit she'd created from her Trance, once she'd recovered from carrying Yukihime...and while Hiro initially had to complain about her essentially wearing no actual clothing, his argument proved unfounded as he discovered that the suit actually was not capable of being removed...as if it were simply a part of the girl's skin.

Eve wore a black bikini, similar to the style of the battle dress she used to wear, though now, that outfit lay forgotten in the corner of her room, deemed useless as she now favored regular clothing. After all, the new Eve didn't enjoy restriction as Yami had, and the battle dress had been the epitome of conservative functional outfits...other than the short length of the skirt part of it and the still-unexplained leg bands that were now missing, lost somewhere in the city.

Yukihime was far less comfortable in the revealing nature of her bikini, a seashell design borrowed from Eve since they had a similar size. She'd tried to go home to get her own, but the Trans had made a good argument that it would waste time because they were similar in body shape, though Yukihime was slightly larger than she was, a fact that was evident in the tighter-fitting swimwear.

Yuri was nowhere near as embarrassed as Yukihime was to show skin, and the fact that her only relative in Japan was with them made no difference to her. Hiro himself had not bothered changing, simply wearing his swim trunks under a t-shirt. He was on guard duty for the few bags they'd brought, so he didn't really plan on getting in the water.

Now that the group were changed, the environment seemed to finally hit. The beach just wasn't the same when nobody was dressed for the occasion after all, and Hiro wrinkled his nose as his heightened senses meant he got a nose full of salt from the water.

It was calm today. There was little wind and the waves were mild, and while the sun was bright, it wasn't very hot out. The beach was cooler than inland, and while Sainan was only half an hour away, the difference was clear.

Nemesis grinned as she stood, staring at the ocean with wide eyes, and he chuckled at the expression on her face. She really did act like a child despite her frequent attempts to seem mature.

"Is this the beach?" she asked as she turned to Hiro, and he laughed as he and Yuri started taking out towels to lay them over the sand, while Eve and Yukihime headed to the water.

"Yes, it is. Go ahead and play, I'll be watching from here." he said, waving at her with a bottle of sunblock in one hand. "Do you need suntan lotion? You're pretty tan already."

She shook her head. "No, I don't! Trans are capable of surviving pure UV-c radiation!"

He blinked, looking at Yuri for answers, and she smiled. "It's a type of radiation that would kill a human faster than any other radiation other than gamma rays."

He nodded in understanding, and sat down on one of the towels the two Nakamuras had worked on setting down, while Yuri took the spot next to him, smiling as she watched Yukihime chasing Eve with some sort of shellfish she'd found...and odd sight, usually it was Eve doing the chasing.

The game of shellfish tag took a turn as Nemesis joined in, waving a starfish she'd caught from somewhere as she advanced on Yukihime, not even hesitating as she ran into the water, and showing no sign of surprise at the temperature difference from the sand. It was an odd sight, seeing her so totally ignore the environment, but it made sense. Nemesis was the kind of person who, when she actually was focused, cared about nothing but the task at hand, and that just so happened to be chasing her classmate.

"Sometimes I forget that those two aren't human." Yuri said, sighing as she watched the three playing, before turning to face her cousin. "And that you aren't either."

Hiro sighed as he realized that what she was saying was true. He couldn't claim to be human anymore, not after all that had happened with Nemesis...It was hard to believe that he'd only met her six months before.

"It's not just me who's changed." he said. "All of us have. Eve used to live in the shadows and went out of her way not to encounter anyone, and if she did meet anyone, she'd retaliate at the slightest perceived sign of trouble, and now she's playing with someone thousands of years younger than her as if she's a kid. You're right, it's easy to forget it, but she's from a completely different era than us."

"Isn't she older than civilization?" the biology student asked, and he nodded.

"Yeah, by like 15,000 years." he replied. "She doesn't look it, does she?"

Yuri nodded. "Mmhmm, she looks like she's like 15 or so. I bet she had great skin products in space."

Hiro laughed. "Apparently she has a ship orbiting at geocentric elevation. Never seen it though, and she doesn't leave the planet nearly as often as Momo and the other Devilukeans do."

Yuri looked up at the sky, lying back on her towel with her hands behind her head. "I'd like to go to space some day. It would be great to see the world from a different perspective for once. Momo's lucky to be able to do it often."

He shrugged. "Apparently she's desensitized to it by now, after doing it so many times on so many worlds, but yeah, I bet that just once, it would be amazing. Some day I'd like to see what Nemesis's home planet looks like from above too, or maybe even go there myself...Her memory of it is fuzzy, and she didn't go very far when she was there. She lived in a destroyed facility from the time she woke up after all."

"Do you at least know the name of the planet? She doesn't usually respond when I ask about it."

He shook his head. "I have no idea where it is or what it's called. She's jokingly told me it was Kurosu, or Deviluke, or even Earth, and even I can't read her mind well enough to find the truth. Maybe even she doesn't know. A lot of her past either isn't in her memory or doesn't make sense."

"Hmm...Well, she is synthetic, isn't she? Maybe her creators deleted some stuff. Yu know, tpyical Area 51 stuff."

Hiro looked at her. "Area 51?" he asked, and she waved a hand, grinning.

"A base in Nevada in the USA. There were rumors about it holding alien research until extraterrestrials were actually proven to exist. Turns out that they just store military prototypes there. Disappointing, really."

"Isn't the USA really against the whole alien immigration thing?" he asked, and she nodded.

"Yeah, it is. It's funny, Japan's immigration laws for humans are insane, but for beings from other worlds, it was really willing to let them in."

Hiro shrugged. "I'm not a politically-minded person, I don't get the reasoning behind all that."

He turned to face the three playing in the water again, smiling as he pulled his knees up to rest his head on the joints. "It was a good idea to come here today, it's nice and peaceful." he said. "No scheduling for anything, no random aliens appearing, it's easy to forget how chaotic things are back home…"

If only it could stay like this forever, but Hiro knew that Murphy's Law hated him, and it wasn't two minutes after he said that before Eve suddenly stopped running through the water, standing straight up as she stared at the sky, and soon, Nemesis followed suit, leaving Yukihime looking between the two in confusion.

Hiro suddenly shouted in pain as a loud screeching sound pierced the air, and he, along with Nemesis and Eve, had to cover their ears with their hands, the two standing forced to double over as the sound blasted their ears, while Yuri and Yukihime were left confused and highly concerned about what was happening to the three...Did they not hear it too? Were they deaf?

Hiro knew that they weren't. This was a sound on a frequency that only Trans could hear, and it didn't take long before the source of the sound became obvious as out of the sky, melting into view like a giant blanket had been thrown off, what was obviously a starship appeared, hurtling toward them, an orange meteoric trail surrounding the metal as it shot forward.

"Get down!" Eve shrieked, her hands glued to her ears as she kicked Yukihime's legs while Nemesis dove into the water, and Hiro, in a split-second mindless action, rolled over on top of Yuri, shielding her with his own body and the towel he'd been sitting on as the screeching sound cut off, and there were a few moments of silence before a loud explosion came from above, and sand went flying in a cloud over the group as the ship crash-landed into the dunes behind them.


	71. My Own Person

**A/N: There is a legit galaxy called Evil Eye...I couldn't resist.**

* * *

Sand went flying like a blizzard over them, and Hiro grit his teeth in pain as the grains, heated to liquid glass by the crash, burned through the towel covering him, and he silently thanked Nemesis for giving him her resistance, or else he knew he'd have taken permanent damage to his back from the spattering liquid. As it was, it hurt, but at least he wasn't screaming in pain, and it faded quickly as he felt the liquid solidify into glass and roll off his back. As he finally opened his eyes, he blinked, his face inches away from the wide-eyed expression on Yuri's, her large glasses hanging slightly crooked on her face.

He rolled off her again, apologizing as he ran his hand along his back to assess the damage...His shirt was ruined, pocked with holes everywhere, but he didn't feel any pain from touching his injuries. iF Nemesis still felt that she owed him for saving her life, she'd made up for it now, if indirectly.

"What was that?!" he shouted as the three in the water ran to them, and Eve stared at the crashed ship, her eyes narrowed.

"A Yamatai-class two-person cruiser…" the alien said, staring at the now-grounded vehicle. "They're commonly used by Harken in the Evil Eye Galaxy...what is one doing here?"

Some kind of special model, but Hiro didn't know what that meant, so it just seemed like a spaceship to him. The pointed front end was now mangled and half-buried in the sand, but he doubted that whoever was inside had died...Most of the front was probably engines.

From Eve's guarded expression, and the four Trance blades sprouting from her hair, she clearly was as doubtful as she was about the status of the crew, and as Hiro and Yuri stood up to face the ship, the door, what he assumed should have been airlocked, blasted outward, a shoe covered in a black boot jutting from the entrance, before it was lowered back in, and a woman dressed in a skimpy red outfit and a long red cape jumped out, landing gracefully on the ground and turning around. Her clothing was dusty, and her long, silver hair was a mess, and she wore an extremely annoyed expression as she shouted up at the now-open door.

"Nymph, I told you to let me handle the landing! You have no understanding of flight controls, you didn't need to help! I had everything under control before you screwed up the ailerons!"

She stamped the ground as she looked over the damaged ship, tching at the clearly-destroyed hull. "Great, how am I going to go home now?" she asked herself.

"It wasn't my intention to land perfectly." came a second voice, a higher-pitched, more childlike one, and at the opening stood a shorter girl, wearing an odd white jumpsuit over her thin, flat body, and she held her teal hair in two twintails to either side of her head. She too wore a cape, made of the same white material as her jumpsuit and lined with a pale pink color, though hers was cut up into sections that billowed separately in the beach breeze. "I was intending to have you be killed in the crash, as I would have survived either way."

The woman stepped back in surprise, her expression changing from one of irritation to anger. "What are you babbling? My mission is to guard you, and you're to give me command! That was the instructions you were given!"

"Azenda." Eve said, and the woman's attention shifted to look at the group, and her eyes widened as she saw the girl. Her mouth lifted in a toothy grin, and her hand lowered to a whip wrapped around her belt loop. "Well, well, well. DIdn't think we'd find you guys so quickly. How have you been, Konjiki no Yami?"

Eve didn't even bother correcting the misnomer, seeing no reason to answer everyone who didn't know about her name change. "I thought you had died. Did Momo not finish you off last time we fought?"

Azenda shrugged. "She let me go, and I got sent back to Deviluke. As much as I'd love to have a rematch, I don't really have the time for you, and I was explicitly told not to fight you when we came along."

"Wait, do you two know each other?" Yukihime asked, and Nemesis blinked, before laughing.

"Hey, it's you!" she said, running up to the woman, who stared in shock at the girl. "It's been a while since you failed to do the one thing I told you to do!"

"N-Nemesis…" Azenda said, staring at the girl, who grinned.

"No worries, I'm not interested in any of that any-" She was cut off as the Tyrant suddenly collapsed, screaming in pain as a dagger sprouted from her shoulder.

The teal-haired girl, who Azenda had called Nymph earlier, stared down, her blue eyes narrowed, with a hardened expression as she stared coldly at the dark-skinned alien.

"My instructions had nothing to do with you...and I don't care what they said anyway. I don't have a reason to follow Gid's orders."

Azenda stared in shock as Nemesis stood paralyzed by surprised at the random attack, blood pooling around the blade in the woman's shoulder. "You wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for him, how can you just turn traitor so quickly?!"

"I'd expect you to worry more about your wound than my motivations. I said that I was hoping you'd be killed by the crash...It would have saved time for me."

As the two stared each other down, Hiro glanced at Eve, who stood, unsure what to do. He knew why she was conflicted. He knew about Azenda, formerly the greatest assassin in the universe before Yami became known as the center of thousands of attacks, and apparently Nymph was not a fan of Gid, just as they weren't...though if Azenda was right, she had been created by him.

"I sat for months pretending to care about that nonsense that those scientists fed to me." Nymph continued. "I appreciate them for giving me a purpose, but I have no desire to be anyone's slave. I can do as I wish, and I'll make my own decisions."

"And why does that require attacking me?! Help me get this thing out of me and I might not retaliate!"

"Your psychokinesis is useless on me, and I can't make my own decisions with you hovering over me. I only needed you to pilot the ship, you're useless to me now."

Eve finally decided to respond to the situation, but even her Black Dragon speed wasn't enough to stop Nymph from raising her arm, her forearm opening up to reveal a cybernetic cannon, which fired a beam of energy at Azenda.

The Tyrant was dead before Eve even got close.


	72. The Fairy

Eve pushed Nemesis aside, standing in front of Azenda, her Trance blades glinting in the sunlight as she wielded them, ready to strike at a moment's notice. She knew there was no hope for the other assassin, a single glance backwards told her that the Talhan's skull had been all but annihilated by the sudden attack, the sand below her now turning a dark red, nearly black, as the woman's body emptied of blood.

"That arm of yours…" Eve said. "Is that some new Trance model?" It was a bizarre type of cannon, angled to slide into the empty socket of her arm, and now, it folded back inward, blending in seamlessly with the newcomer's skin. Some new form of Mea's model?

Nymph blinked. "I don't know what a Trance is." she replied. "I am an Angelite, modified for combat and defense." She looked over the girl standing in front of her, her eyes glowing a light green. "Hmm...my scanners seem to have been damaged. They approximate your age at several dozen millennia. Are you cybernetic as well? Your hair and skin contain very high traces of nanobot technology."

"Cyber-" Eve's eyes widened, and the blades lowered, shifting back to strands of hair and falling to her side. "Are you the result of the Angeloid experiment?"

The cybernetic girl blinked. "Angeloid? It sounds familiar…" She tapped her chin with a gloved finger, thinking over the name. "Hmm...Yeah, I think they called be the Beta Angeloid before they gave me the name Nymph."

Hiro walked next to Nemesis and bent over, lifting her up off the ground and frowning as he held her to him. The tiny Trans was shivering, her eyes wide and staring at his shirt unblinkingly. Hadn't she killed before? Why was she so shaken by it? Even he wasn't as affected as he should have been...He only vaguely thought of Mea when he looked at the body of the former assassin. Was he becoming desensitized to the thought of death already? He didn't like the thought of that.

He turned his head to face Eve, holding Nemesis close, and smiling sadly as he felt her body seem to stick to his, signalling that she wanted to merge with him, though she didn't fully Trans-Fuse, choosing instead to remain in his arms...Perhaps she felt more comfort in that than in being within his mind.

"What is the Angeloid experiment?" he asked the Trans, and she looked at him, glancing down at Nemesis before nodding.

"Something I heard about before coming to Earth. Lacospo mentioned that there was a new effort to find a near-extinct race called Angelites and use their special qualities for a new experiment. They're similar to the Trance experiments, but they don't use genetic engineering and nanotechnology. They're just cyborgs, pretty much." She turned to Nymph, but still spoke to Hiro. "This one is apparently the result of the experiment...We should be careful, but her combat abilities don't seem that high."

"What are you saying? She blew Azenda's head off!"

Eve shook her head. "She did, but that was a surprise attack and it was only a basic cannon. Without any Trance, she has a very limited number of weapons that she can possibly store in her body."

A fast assessment, but one that he had to trust. She had far more combat experience than anyone else, after all, it was likely that over the centuries she'd gained a great understanding of how an enemy worked.

"Hiro-san." she said. "You don't need to be worried. Stand back, I can handle her on my own. Even as Yami I would have had little trouble."

Nymph blinked, and her gaze switched over to Hiro, her eyes narrowing as she jumped off the door of the ship, lightly landing on the sand with a grace that didn't even disturb the loose particles. Eve watched her carefully, but didn't retaliate, though her arm developed a steely tint as she partially transformed it, ready at a moment's notice.

Hiro shifted Nemesis in his arms as the small girl walked towards him, stopping a foot away and staring at him.

"...What is it?" he asked, slightly uncomfortable at the expression on her face.

"Hiro." she said. "Nakamura Hiro?"

He blinked. "...Yes, that's my name. Why?" he said. He shouldn't have been surprised, honestly. If Gid created her and Tsubaki had been right about some project surrounding him, then this girl was probably looking for him.

She nodded, sighing as she crossed her arms, her expression hard as she looked at him. "I expected you to be shorter." she said. "And fatter. The average body-mass index of humans of your age is different from yours."

He blinked at the odd statement. Was she insulting or complimenting him? "And I expected one of Gid's puppets to be taller." He smiled at the irony of the statement. "And for someone named 'Nymph', you look more like a fairy to me. What's your surname?"

"I have no surname, nor do I have a need for one." she said, but hesitated before continuing, her eyes closing as she thought. "But as my ship is now destroyed, I am forced to remain on Earth, so I will make one up for the sake of familiarity. Call me…Yōsei. My name will be Nymph Yōsei."

"Yōsei?" Hiro asked. "Why that name?"

Her eyes narrowed, and she frowned. "You said that I look like a fairy, and that is the Japanese word for 'fairy', right? I speak Devilukean, but I was implanted with basic understanding of the differences between the languages. At the very least, I prefer 'Yōsei' over 'Panla', the Devilukean equivalent."

"Can someone please explain to me what's going on?" Yuri asked. "Who is this girl? WHy is there a dead person? Why is no one worried about this?!"

Yukihime walked up and set a hand on her shoulder. "Nakamura-sama, I suggest that you don't question it. I learned a long time ago that there's no point asking questions. It'll only make you more confused. Just stand and pretend you know what they're talking about, it's the easiest way."

Yuri looked at her, blinking. "...And am I supposed to ignore that that girl just shot someone?"

Yukihime shrugged. "It's horrifying, but you have to remember that Eve's done worse things in her lifetime, and even innocent little Lala's got a body count. Honestly, seeing stuff like that firsthand is to be expected when so many violent people collect in one place."


	73. Another Funeral?

Nymph looked over as she heard Yukihime's statement, and her gaze switched to the ruined body of her former partner. She turned around sharply, practically marching in her footsteps as she walked to the woman, though she left no footprints on the sand...How light was she? She left barely any presence, and even Hiro's Trance-accelerated senses didn't even detect so much as a basic scent coming from her. It was as if she simply didn't exist.

The girl knelt on one knee and poked Azenda's wound, her finger easily slipping in with a wet squelching sound that made Hiro feel sick, and she hummed to herself as she pulled her finger, now stained red with small bits of the woman's brain clinging, to her face, sniffing at the substance she found her glove dirtied with. "Interesting…"

She shook her hand, the residual brain matter slipping off as she stood, staring at the woman's body. "It is quite interesting how no matter what galaxy you go to, there will always be beings with this body type. Humans, Devilukeans, Talhans, Angelites...It's quite the interesting phenomenon. Perhaps I will research it while I am here."

"What do you want?" Eve asked, her arm still coated in silver in case she had a reason to attack. "You recognized Hiro's name, and forgive me if I'm being presumptuous, but so far there hasn't been a good track record of aliens who know him."

Nymph's eyes rolled to face the girl, and her pupils seemed to dilate and contract at random before stabilizing. "Konjiki no Yami, also known as Golden Darkness." she said, turning to face the group. "I recognize you now. I received little data on the Trance experiments because they are irrelevant to my mission, but you were mentioned more than once by those twins."

Eve narrowed her eyes. "Twins? What twins?" she asked. "These are people who know me and lived?"

Nymph shrugged. "I don't know if they ever actually met you. They're both bizarre, fawning over Gid in everything they do. The tall one especially even calls him 'Master'!" She shook her head and crossed her arms, sighing. "Honestly, there is no one in this universe who can command me to call them that without first giving me a good reason." She turned her head, and Hiro found her eyes boring into his again. "I was told to aid you in your little game against Tsubaki Dirnu, but after meeting you, I see no reason to bother. I understand that you know little of me, and as I know little of you, I see no reason to waste my energy on a campaign that has no relevance to me."

Hiro blinked, looking down at Nemesis, who finally seemed to be calming down, her grip on his sides loosening and her trembling notably less than before. "Why does Gid think we care what he says?" he asked, his gaze hardening as he faced the teal-haired cyborg in front of him. "Why do you think we care? I don't give a crap about his experiments, and I don't want any help coming from him anymore! I know I have no hope against Tsubaki on my own, but I have Nemesis and Eve and everyone else who's on my side! They help me because they share my views, not because it benefits them! I bet Tsubaki's not even on Gid's radar, isn't she? He only cares that she even exists because she's a threat to his experiment, isn't that right?"

He knew he was shouting, and he knew that everyone was staring at him, Yuri in confusion, Yukihime in fear, and Eve in understanding.

Nemesis was frozen in his arms, her shock at his volume enough that she couldn't move a muscle. Even his eyes...The glare he gave Nymph was of an intensity she had not seen since the first time she'd met him. It was as if he'd slipped back into his old habits, just with a new motive…

Nymph stared him down as he screamed at her, but she didn't flinch, though her eyes noticeably shifted away to break eye contact under his glare. Her arms remained crossed as she grinned, a wide smile that showed off her teeth.

"That anger…" she said, laughing. "I can see why Gid got attached to you, you've got more determination than any of those spineless scientists I was forced to listen to while I was being converted. If the situation were different, then we may have been allies." A loud sound like a buzz came from her, and as quickly as it came, it disappeared.

From two slits in the back of her odd jumpsuit, lining up with slits on the cape, two wings sprouted. Unlike the feathery wings that the Trans used, these were comprised of a solid piece of some sort of translucent membrane, and they were very small. It was the typical bee wing situation, where they couldn't have normally carried her weight...But it appears that the fact that she left no footsteps betrayed her true density, and as her wings began to flap, she lifted off the ground, after bending down to lift the body of her former partner, who dripped blood down the front of the girl's jumpsuit as she somehow carried her...Nymph's strength-to-weight ratio was all over the place, evidently.

Unlike the Trans wings, hers moved like a hummingbird's, so fast that Hiro couldn't follow the movement, and they produced the buzzing sound again, now much louder thanks to the rapid movement as she flew up in the air, stopping to hover a few dozen feet away and turning to face them again, an embarrassed expression crossing her face.

"Eh...I don't really have anywhere to go…" she said, sighing as she slowly lowered herself to the ground in front of them again. "Umm…"

Hiro sighed, his palm meeting his face. "Need somewhere to go?" he asked, and she blinked.

"Well...I was kind of trying to make that a whole 'I'm never coming back' thing…" she said, laughing sheepishly. "Uhh...Hi again?"

Hiro smirked, crossing his arms as Nemesis had finally left his grip, and he started to laugh.

His laughter was contagious as Eve and Nemesis quickly followed suit, and after a moment of utter confusion by the two full humans behind them, they too started to laugh.

Nymph's pale face flushed red at their laughter, before she too joined in.

"I guess I have no choice, sometimes things don't go as planned!" she said.

"Yeah, but one thing…" Hiro said, pointing at Azenda. "What are you going to do about Azenda? Should we give her a decent funeral or something?"

Nymph waved her free hand. "I may have no attachment to her, but I know that doing that would be insulting to her. I'll just fly out and dump her in the ocean, I bet she'd have liked that."

Eve nodded, her arm turning back to normal. "From the few times I met her, I think she'd have wanted to just be forgotten. It's not like she really had a place to go back to."

Nymph nodded. "She was always blabbering about going back to the Talha Galaxy...I think she forgot that the whole thing got swallowed up by its quasar."

Nemesis shook her head. "No, she didn't forget. Everyone needs reassurance that they matter, I bet she was trying to project herself as the last Talhan."

Nymph blinked. "But...There's Talhans all over the universe, it's not like it was an unexpected catastrophe, they had five million years to prepare."

"I didn't say her methods were right." Nemesis replied. "But anyway...Welcome to Hiro's house. Question is though…" She turned her head to face her other half. "Where is she going to sleep?"


	74. Yukihime's Home

"Honestly, what do you keep getting yourself into? Don't you know how hard it is to wash blood off clothing!" complained a middle-aged woman, waving Nymph's jumpsuit around in one hand as her daughter and the new alien sat on the couch in front of her, Nymph wearing a simple sheet as nothing else fit her. She glanced at Yukihime, unsure how to respond to this ranting woman in front of her.

Yukihime rolled her eyes and made an exaggerated waving motion with her hands. "I'm sorry, kaa-san! Did you think I expected someone to attack while I was at the beach?!"

The woman tsked as she looked over the short girl covered in the sheet. "So...Yōsei Ninfu?" she asked, and Nymph shook her head.

"I'm not Japanese, I'm extraterrestrial. It's Nymph Yōsei." she replied, and the woman nodded. "What is your name, Yukihime-sama?"

The woman laughed, waving the hand not carrying the bloodied jumpsuit. "No need to be so formal, just call me Tsukine. After all, everyone living here is a Yukihime!"

Yukihime sighed, shaking her head. "Like he;s ever here." she said, turning to Nymph. "It's just kaa-san and me until probably late July, tou-san's always overseas on business."

Nymph tilted her head. "What's his name, and where is he now?" she asked, and Yukihime shrugged.

"China, right?" she asked, looking at her mother, who nodded in confirmation.

"Oshita works as a contractor, and he gets a lot of business in China and South Korea." she explained. "So he's often gone. He makes sure to always be here in the later part of the year though, after all, he doesn't want to miss our only daughter's birthday and Christmas!"

Nymph blinked as she took in the information. "Is he aware of the circumstances surrounding Nakamura Hiro and your daughter?" she asked.

Tsukine's expression suddenly went dark at the name, and she nodded slowly. "Yes...He is." she said, sighing. "We were good friends with Goudou and Karen Nakamura, we were sorry to hear that they'd been killed…" She sighed, shaking her head as she sat down next to her daughter, holding the jumpsuit up and staring at it with half-closed eyes as she thought back.

"There were rumors about Sakakibara Seito before the attack, you know." she said. "Claims that he was never quite right, that he already had tendencies usually considered sociopathic. He went to the same elementary school that Hiro did, you know. Sainan First Elementary. Murano-chan went to Hoshigaki until she was 8, but she ended up transferring to Sainan First after the principal of Hoshigaki got caught embezzling fundraiser money. Sakakibara-san went there too, and I heard that he was friends with Hiro-kun until the attack."

She shook her head. "I remember when Murano-chan first told me about him. Apparently he started going by the name 'Tsubaki' after a while after what was apparently a car crash, and he stopped being able to speak even a word of Japanese, and looking back, I think it started only a few weeks before the attack. It was a shock, really, he was such an innocent child..."

"Tsubaki Dirnu." Nymph said, and the woman looked at her. The tiny alien shifted her grip on the blanket surrounding her and nodded. "A criminal who was a member of a race of body-snatchers called Ragnarians. She's known for taking only male hosts. I'm sure Sakakibara-kun was a perfectly normal child before she chose him as her host." She looked down at the blanket over her front and sighed. "I was sent here by Deviluke to aid in Hiro's efforts against Tsubaki, but I chose instead to simply stay back and observe…" She looked at the woman, frowning as she continued. "Tsukine...am I a bad person for wishing to not get involved? My whole purpose for existing was to take down that murderer, and yet I want nothing to do with this. Does that make me as evil as she is?"

Tsukine remained silent for several seconds as she looked at the alien, and sighed, leaning her head back on the cushion of the couch, staring up at the ceiling. "Ninfu-chan…" SHe shook her head. "I'm sorry, I can't pronounce your name correctly, I speak so little English, unlike Hiro-kun…" she said, and Nymph shook her head.

"Call me what you want to, I understand that my name is odd." she said, and Tsukine chuckled.

"Thank you. Anyway, Ninfu-chan...I don't think you're a bad person for not wanting to help. Everyone, human or not, has those kinds of selfish wishes, and there's nothing wrong with that. I knew right away when I heard about the attack that Tsubaki was not human, and the silence on the event afterwards told me I was right. You see, my family have always believed in aliens, and this event only confirmed it for us, though Oshita and the Nakamuras didn't harbor such theories... Tsubaki stole Sakakibara-san's body and used it for such an evil act, but that doesn't mean that you have to stop her. You have nothing to do with her, and no one, not even Deviluke, can force you to do otherwise."

Nymph looked down, but turned her head back up as Tsukine continued. "Of course, I don't think you're entirely unwilling to help. You're here after all, right next to Hiro-kun. Maybe it's just because you don't know anything about Earth, but maybe it's also because you subconsciously know that it's simply the right thing to do."

Nymph sighed. "All my thoughts and morals are governed by what Gid programmed into me-"

"That's wrong." Tsukine interrupted. "I don't care how advanced Deviluke's technology is, there is no way that they can suppress the working mind." She tapped her temple with her ring finger, the gold band of her wedding ring glinting in the light coming from the windows. "The brain is the most complex thing in the universe, you can't just change it with technology. What you think is what you really believe."

Nymph blinked, before a small smile played on her face. "...Thank you, that was a good answer." she said, and Tsukine laughed, standing up and stretching, the jumpsuit still gripped in one hand.

"Well, enough about all this depressing talk, I'd better wash this out now. Can't leave you wearing nothing but a sheet for too long, what would Hiro-kun think if he walked in right now?"

Nymph tilted her head. "I have no concern for him seeing me in this state. Is nudity considered unacceptable on Earth?"

Yukihime's hand met her forehead in exasperation. "God, you sound like Nemesis back when we first met her…" she said. "If you're on Earth, you wear clothes around other people. It's common sense."

Tsukine laughed as she walked out of the room, Nymph staring at her back until she turned away from the door and disappeared. The girl's eyes shifted to the other human sitting next to her, and she blinked a few times before smiling.

"I like your mother." she said. "She's a good woman, and she was even willing to take me in even though she doesn't know me…"

Yukihime sighed, crossing her arms. "She understands how hectic it is at Hiro's house." she replied. "There's already too many people with Yuri there now, and more often than not Momo's there as well. Eve has to sleep on the couch because she's not willing to go into his parents' old room, so there'd be nowhere for you to sleep. We've got plenty of space here, and you're not that intrusive, so what's the problem?"

Nymph stared, but her smile didn't fade. "You humans are strange creatures." she finally said. "Perhaps I won't hate this world as much as I thought."


	75. Sentimental Value

Yukihime sighed as she flopped onto her bed, staring at the window, which had the blinds half-closed, but from her lower angle she could look up at the sky.

She turned her head as she heard her door creak, and Nymph walked in, now dressed in her freshly-washed jumpsuit. The alien looked around the room, taking note of the sparsely-decorated walls, covered with a couple posters of various bands and a couple cats, typical of a teenage girl's room.

"Cute." the Angelite said, picking up one of the framed pictures that sat on the girl's night stand and frowning.

"Was this what Hiro was like back then?" she asked, and Yukihime blinked, sitting up next to the alien, who sat down next to her and showed her the picture.

Yukihime took the picture, and sighed as she looked at it. "I forgot that kaa-san had taken this…" she said.

A young Hiro, age 6, playing in the sand with a 7-year-old Yukihime. The two wore their school uniforms, neither caring that they were dirtying the clothing with their playing, and the big smiles on their faces made it clear that they had no intention of stopping their game any time soon.

She continued staring at the picture before she heard her name called by the girl next to her, and she looked at Nymph. "Yeah?" she asked.

Nymph was looking at her, a clear look of concern on her face. "You're crying." she said, and Yukihime blinked, raising her hand to her cheek.

Sure enough, her face was wet, and she blinked a few times, before laughing, though the sound didn't sound very sincere to her ears. "Sorry, it's just that...This picture was taken only a couple weeks before the attack." she said. "And, after that…"

She looked down, and Nymph nodded, understanding the human's reaction. "After that, he closed himself off from the world, until Nemesis helped to bring him out again."

Yukihime blinked, before sighing, a small smile crossing her face as she set the picture back where it belonged. "Yeah...I almost forgot, it was Nemesis who did most of the work. I…" The smile quickly fell. "I made a mistake back then...We thought Sakakibara-kun was our friend, and I was just showing him the way to Hiro's house...and then his parents died and he stopped caring about the world. I knew he blamed me, but he was never vocal about it. He just went silent whenever I was around, and acted like I didn't exist."

Nymph nodded. "You wanted him to get angry at you." she said, and Yukihime looked at her in surprise. "You wanted him to scream and attack you, so you could see humanity in him again. You were afraid to see him as just an empty shell, so you took it upon yourself to be as hard on him as possible, in an effort to break him."

"I…" She looked down at her lap. "...Yeah, I guess I did. It was the wrong choice, I know that. Being tsuntsun doesn't solve anything, doesn't it?"

Nymph shrugged, looking over the other pictures, and smiled as she picked up another one, larger than the first to fit the large group of people depicted. "I don't think it was the wrong path." she said. "I don't know much about relationships, but you did what you thought was best for your childhood friend." Her smile didn't fade as she continued. "It was your way of showing your love for him, wasn't it?"

Yukihime blinked, and laughed sheepishly, her hand going to the side of her head. "Was it that obvious?" she asked. "I mean, you haven't even been here that long…"

"I wouldn't have known had Abbadon not informed me." the alien said, and Yukihime blinked.

"Abbadon?" she asked, and Nymph tilted her head, before nodding in understanding.

"I had forgotten that the name was only commonplace in the spy network." she said. "I believe that her undercover name here is Haruhi Saori?"

The girl blinked, before nodding. "Oh, right, Hiro did tell me that she was some kind of alien...Charmian, I think…" She sighed and shook her head. "Honestly all those species names confuse me. Devilukean, Charmian, Ragnarian, Balkean, it's too much for a human to handle…"

"It sounds to me that you are unaware of your species' place in this universe." she said.

Yukihime stared at her. "What do you mean? Aren't we considered a 'primitive' species by your scale?" she asked, and Nymph shook her head.

"While your species does fail to meet the requirements of a Type I civilization on the Kardashev Scale, your planet is still a popular place for the residents of many worlds all across the universe to go to. You hardly notice it since aliens have only recently been officially recognized here, but it has been quite popular, especially lately since the Devilukean princesses took a liking to it."

The alien looked at the picture she was now holding, laughing at the sight of it. "But enough on extraterrestrial interactions. This picture...It was taken recently, wasn't it? He looks like a completely different person here."

Yukihime looked at the picture, and laughed. "That was taken at the end of the school year." she said, smiling as she remembered when it had been taken.

Most of the class had been calmly standing in the back couple rows, though the main group had been less than peaceful. Nemesis had climbed on top of a passive Eve, and the tiny Trans was attempting to push a fearful Haruhi into a grinning Okamoto, whose arm was wrapped around the shoulder of Satsuki Minene, Nemesis's best friend outside of the Tsubaki's Game group.

Saero-sensei had been attempting to break up Nemesis's torture of the dandere girl, while Hiro and Yukihime knelt in front of everyone, both of them too tall for the picture to be complete if they'd stood straight, and Hiro was covering his left eye with a hand, his face frozen into a laugh as the camera captured the moment.

Yukihime remembered what he'd said and done to have his hand in that position, and chuckled at the memory. A joke about how if Nemesis made Eve fall on top of him, that he wouldn't allow her to use him as a vessel for a week, and he'd covered the eye, favored by Nemesis when she was inside him, to demonstrate the joke.

Eve had fallen over and nearly knocked Okamoto out, so the joke ended up being serious, but the event was past them now.

"He seems very different." Nymph said, observing the picture. "As if nothing ever went wrong."

Yukihime smiled. "Yeah, it does seem like that…" she said. "He smiles and laughs so naturally now, it's like he's a completely different person…"

"And it makes you happy seeing him like that, but it also makes you sad that it was not you to bring him back to normal."

She shook her head. "No, I'm not sad about it. He knew exactly how I feel about him the entire time, but he didn't care. I was the same as everyone else, and even now, I'm pushed aside anyway. He's got a lot of people following him now, so I can't assume he'll pay attention to me when I can't bring anything to help him."


	76. Nymph's Humor

Nymph crossed her arms and stared at the girl. "You are entirely human, unlike Hiro. Am I correct?" she asked.

Yukihime nodded. "And I'm not compatible with anything that Nemesi or Eve could teach me…" She looked down. "Hiro broke away from humanity's natural weakness because he's so compatible with Nemesis, but my mind is apparently like a brick wall to her."

Nymph tilted her head. "There are varying degrees of transference for her power?" she asked.

"Yeah. She can easily Trans-Fuse with Eve, and she and Hiro are basically the same person at this point, but she has more trouble going through someone like Rito or Momo, and Lala and I are completely immune."

Nymph tapped her chin in thought, and Yukihime scooted from her a bit, eyeing the arm, and the cyborg blinked, before laughing, waving her hand.

"Are you afraid of me?" she asked. "It's perfectly safe, you know. I have perfect control over my cybernetics." The cannon that had killed Azenda popped out and Yukihime made an eeping sound, jumping in her seat, and Nymph laughed as the cannon returned to her arm.

"Think of me as another failed Trans." she said, smiling. "Do you fear that Eve will randomly accidentally stab you with a Trance blade? Or do you trust that she has enough control that she'd never accidentally do so? I am the same way. My body is specialized for the specific purpose of functioning with my upgrades. There is nothing to fear."

Yukihime blinked, before nodding, visibly relaxing in her spot. "...Sorry, I'm still jumpy after you killed Azenda. At least I've seen it happen before, I can't imagine how Yuri-sama would react to you doing that in front of her."

"Yuri...Is that the woman who you were next to on the beach?" she asked, and Yukihime nodded. "And is that...her real name?"

Yukihime blinked. "I...think it is. Why?"

Nymph chuckled. "I don't know if it's the case in Japanese, but in Devilukean, 'yuri' means lesbianism."

Yukihime blinked, before laughing, falling back to lie on her bed as she laughed. "I...never thought of that." she replied. "Guess you're right...I wonder if she realizes it!"

Nymph blinked. "Was she not a resident of Japan before?" she asked, and Yukihime shook her head.

"No, she lived in Canada before moving here. I think she's only a quarter Japanese, so maybe she didn't know."

"If not, then that's a pretty odd irony not to be aware of. That's like saying that Gid didn't know that short jokes are commonplace for most species within the Devilukean Empire."

Yukihime laughed. "I keep hearing about that. Is he really that short? I mean, Lala and Momo are pretty tall, and Nana's getting there."

Nymph laughed. "He was a tall man even for a Devilukean during the Galactic War, but he expended so much power that he shrank to a baby. So...he's a shortstack." She bent over from her place on the bed, holding her hand a few feet off the ground. "About this tall."

Yukihime blinked, before laughing again. "No way is that accurate." she said. "I can't imagine anyone being that short as an adult, least of all the king of the universe."

Nymph grinned. "Maybe he's compensating by having Hiro be his focus." she said. "It would make sense to have a tall person make up for his lack of stature, wouldn't it?"

She shook her head, blinking as she frowned. "You know, I can't remember the last time I was genuinely happy before I was captured."

Yukihime blinked, sitting up again. "Captured?" she asked, sensing the girl's mood drop dramatically at the statement.

Nymph nodded. "I wasn't always a cyborg, obviously. I'm a member of a race called the Angelites. They're a nomadic race that wander the universe...I remember that I'm the last of them, but I doubt that's true." She held her forehead with a hand, closing her eyes as she sighed. "There's very little that those scientists left intact in my brain, only bits and pieces. I think there was someone else with me when I was captured, but I don't know who it was or why they were there. I don't even remember my own name."

"So, Nymph is…" Yukihime said, staring at the alien in concern. It made sense that she wouldn't be aware of her past, didn't it? She knew little about Deviluke, but Gid's by-all-means attitude was clear from how Momo talked on the occasions she mentioned stories of when she and her sisters were younger.

"A pseudonym." Nymph replied. "The Angeloid experiments, of which I was the result of, used Greek naming schemes, and I, the Beta, was called Nymph. I heard that there was an Alpha, but the test subject died quickly." She ran a hand along the pointed spikes jutting from the sides of her head. "These were added to my model as a buffer system because the Alpha's brainwaves interfered with receiving orders." she said, and grinned, though the action was not as sincere as she tried to make it seem. "It works both ways, and now I can block out any orders Deviluke tries to give me."

"That sounds...useful." Yukihime said. "So you're free from them now?"

Nymph shrugged. "I don't know. They haven't tried to send anything to me yet, and Abbadon hasn't reported any plans to retrieve me, so I hope that I am safe. Perhaps Gid simply doesn't care about my rebellion. I'm sure he'll just find another Angelite to put into the project."

"Why is the project called Angeloid if you're called an Angelite?"

Nymph looked sideways at her. "Why are Trans called that when their projects are called Trance?" she asked, and Yukihime looked down.

"Yeah, guess you're right. Gid's weird naming scheme, I guess."


	77. Nymph's Story

**This will be the last chapter of the mass update! As of now, time is counting down until the end of part 1! Now to fix that garbage that is the first chapter...**

* * *

"I don't remember what my life was like before Deviluke's scientists replaced my memories." Nymph said, rubbing her upper arms with her hands as she looked down at her lap. "The first thing I remember clearly is being in that lab they took me apart and put me back together in."

Yukihime sighed, sitting up and watching the smaller girl next to her. "Seems like a lot of aliens here lived in labs…" she said. "Eve and Nemesis too…"

Nymph chuckled. "Gid's projects go back millennia, I'm surprised there aren't more of them here yet. I'd have at least expected those messengers to have visited...Or even those creepy Trans sisters."

"Trans? I thought you said you didn't know about them."

Nymph shook her head. "I've heard of it, but I have no knowledge of the projects except what has been declassified by Deviluke." she replied. "Gid has two messengers, Gin'iro and Kin'iro, who sometimes shuttle other members of the project around. While I was in the Whirlpool Galaxy about to come to Earth, the planet Azenda and I were sent to was also used as a crossroads for some other sort of project related to this all, and I got to meet the two who were a part of it."

"And they were Trans?"

Nymph nodded. "I didn't know the term then, but when I did a biological scan of them, I found their bodies were capable of doing exactly what Eve's does...though they lacked nanobots. Looking back, they must be a new model that Gid's come out with. I didn't care enough to ask where they were going though…"

"Biological scan? You can do that?" Yukihime asked, and Nymph laughed.

"Did you think my skill was in my arm cannon? That's boring, any old cyborg can do that. Angelites are special, each one has an affinity for some special capability or another...at least by Deviluke's assumptions on them. Mine is in biological hacking." She grinned. "I can change the genetic makeup of anything I feel like, to a certain extent. Not really helpful for combat because it's so slow, but I can do stuff like changing a person's appearance. There's more that Gid's people stuck in my body than just robotic parts."

Yukihime blinked, before laughing. "So yet again, I meet someone leagues ahead of me in every way. I bet even those other Trans couldn't beat you if you really tried."

Nymph laughed. "I certainly hope that's the case, I'd like to think I can hold my own against Gid's other projects, seeing as I'm technically a rogue experiment now."

Yukihime smiled. "I'm sure you'll be safe here. Haruhi's apparently really important for the project, and Hiro, Nemesis, and Eve are all right across the street. If anything, I'd like to say you're safer here than in Deviluke."

Nymph nodded. "I do feel safe now, and I am glad that you were willing to take me in despite my killing Azenda. I know that most people don't condone senseless murder."

Yukihime laughed. "If we can ignore Eve's past, we can ignore yours. You've done way less bad things than she has."

Nymph smiled. "I'm glad that yours was the home I was given to live in." she said, and Yukihime blinked.

"Why? It's not as exciting as Hiro's house, there's so much going on there all the time…"

Nymph shook her head. "I don't mind the quiet, but from what I've seen, you are more empathetic than Hiro is...and I don't really like Nemesis. She reminds me too much of those sisters."

The human tilted her head. "Nemesis was a failed experiment, maybe they're related to hers?"

Nymph shrugged. "I hope not, I would rather her be unique than have three of her running around the universe."

~~~The Vermillion Household~~~

Tsubaki sighed as she slid down in her seat, mindlessly watching some children's show whose name she didn't know or care to learn. The woman had put a parental lock on the channels and she didn't know the password, so she was forced to watch this meaningless drivel.

It didn't help that she could only read minimal Japanese and spoke even less, so she was just watching a show that didn't register any information in her mind. She could almost feel her mind rotting away.

Her mental prisoner seemed to enjoy it, though, buried in the corners of the alien's powerful mind, and that was a welcome relief. It took energy to continuously suppress Camellia, who she knew had, despite her best efforts, still managed to grow and adapt fairly well. If anything, it was a two-way street and the girl was gaining knowledge that someone her age shouldn't know from the dominant personality in their shared mind.

"Tsubaki, you should have more fun!" came the childish voice of Camellia Vermillion, echoing in her skull, and the alien grit her teeth in annoyance.

 _I don't care about this garbage. Ragnarian children's shows are better than this, at least they have substance. This is just words thrown on a screen and talked about. I have standards, and this crap doesn't meet them._ She didn't care about holding her tongue around the child, and so Camellia had learned much of Ragna's culture and geography thanks to the criminal's constant complaining, but the alien didn't care what she knew. She was in control, and so there was no reason to worry. There was no possibility of Hiro separating them without killing the child after all, and despite his coarse nature around her, she knew he wouldn't dare to kill her if it meant ending an innocent child's life.

Not that Camellia was totally innocent. She'd taken on many of Tsubaki's harsher qualities over time, and while the effect wasn't as pronounced, she certainly was no human child.

"This show's boring too though." Tsubaki blinked. This was the first time her prisoner had admitted to not liking one of the things her mother provided them. Wasn't this what human children enjoyed? "I know! Let's go play with Hiro-san again!"

 _No!_ She was still not ready to face Darkness, and she knew that after the last attack, the Trans would be on constant guard, and no doubt she'd be buzzing around him at all times. _I don't know how to face that woman yet, and until then, I'm not going anywhere near Hiro!_

She was a sociopath, not insane. Of course, Camellia had the ability to convince her superiors to do things for her, as all children of any race did.

"It's only Nemesis that you can't influence, isn't it?" the girl asked. "So go ghost on Eve too, Nemesis can't monitor everyone with one eye!"

…That wasn't a bad plan. Tsubaki's mouth lifted in a grin at the thought. Camellia was still childish, but her intellect had come along in leaps and bounds thanks to their shared mind. _You're right, this won't be as hard as I thought…_ She glanced over at the kitchen of the small house, where the girl's mother was cooking their dinner. _Tomorrow. I'm starving right now._


	78. Tsubaki's Game

"Checkmate." Eve said, grinning as Momo threw his hands in the air in frustration.

"Gah! How have I lost 15 times in a row?!" she asked, sighing and falling back to the headrest of the couch, before jumping up again, sitting ramrod straight in the seat. "How about best 16 out of 31?"

Eve's grin didn't lower as she moved the various geometric pieces back to their original positions. "You may as well give up. I've played Gerudan Shmiya for ten millennia, you won't be able to beat me!"

Hiro sat next to Momo, curiously watching the game from above the manga he held in his hands. The game was interesting, even though he understood nothing about it...He couldn't even read the symbols on the pieces, some alien language comprised of seemingly random scribbles. Then again, what was Japanese but seemingly random scribbles?

He and Eve turned their heads as the front door opened, while Momo remained fixated on the board in front of her.

"Yo, Haruhi." the house's owner said, waving as the small girl came in.

She smiled as she walked in, sitting down next to Eve in the remaining seat. She still was as nervous as ever, but at least she tried to cover it now. It made it much easier to talk to her.

Eve turned to her, tilting her head. "Were you reporting to Gid again?" she asked, and the hybrid Charmian eeped, jumping in her seat.

"My clients' names are anonymous!" she said, and Eve chuckled as she turned back to the game, taking a piece and moving it after Momo had finally made her move. It had been clear since Tsubaki's attack that Gid was the one 'Abbadon' reported to, but she still insisted on never affirming what was now common knowledge in the Tsubaki's Game group.

She'd asked about why they called their group by that name, and none had really been able to give an answer…'Tsubaki's Game' just eventually became the name of the team for whatever reason.

Hiro leaned back, folding the corner of the page he was on and closing the manga, setting it aside as he looked at the ceiling. "I wonder how Nymph's adjusting." he said idly. "It's a very different world here than the inside of a lab after all."

"Living in a lab's not as bad as you'd think. Checkmate." Eve said as she dodged a piece that Momo had thrown at her head in frustration at losing yet again..in only two moves. As she reset the pieces yet again, the Trans continued. "I'm sure Nemesis can tell you the same. The main issue isn't really the living conditions, it's more the fact that you never see anyone except those scientists. It's a lonely life, but loneliness is something that all experiments learn to cope with. Nymph will be able to transition well, even if her conditions were a bit more extreme than ours."

"Where is Nemesis anyway? I haven't seen her." Momo asked, studying the game board closely.

"Taking a nap." Hiro replied, tapping his head. "She'll probably be up in an hour."

"That girl sleeps all the time." Eve said idly,, and he shrugged.

"It's easier on her body to just be inside me all the time, and I don't really mind as long as she doesn't mess with anything in there."

"You're too trusting of her, Hiro…" Momo said, before shouting in irritation as Eve won her 18th game in a row. "She might be on our side, but who knows what she's planning?"

Immediately, all three, including the normally unreactive Haruhi, looked at her with a clear expression of 'really?'

"Momo, I think you of all people shouldn't be saying things like that. You're worse than she is."

The Devilukean blinked, before laughing. "Still don't trust me, Hiro-san?" she asked. "I thought I was your sidekick!"

Hiro sighed. "Yeah, but you haven't exactly done much but just be around since the whole Black Dragon thing." he said. "For a sidekick, you haven't really done much."

"Hey, it's not my fault Tsubaki's got some weird ability that Deviluke doesn't have information on!" she complained. "I've been trying to research it, but Father keeps information on Ragna really hidden, and I doubt even Lala could break the encryption on all of it…"

"If he's supposed to be on our side, he's really making things difficult for us." Hiro replied. "Why can't he just declassify the stuff we need? Tsubaki is his problem too after all."

"I'm not surprised." Eve said. "When I became a threat to Deviluke, he didn't declassify the information on the project that I came from. It's probably some sort of bureaucratic reason, not a personal vendetta. It would reflect badly on him if he were to expose government secrets just for a small group after all. He has a whole universe to run after all."

"Does he really control the entire thing? It's hard enough to run one country, much less an intergalactic empire."

"He's the king of it all, but the Devilukean Empire is more like a series of smaller states...I don't really get it myself. It's not me who has to succeed, it's Lala who has to deal with all that political crap. Poor her, all she wants is to just live here on Earth with Rito-san…" Momo said, and Hiro sighed.

"At least she gets to go through with that harem plan of yours. She seems pretty happy with it after all." he said, and the pink-haired alien nodded.

"My role in the plan's at a standstill right now because I've been researching Tsubaki, but it seems like things are progressing fine without me." she said, laughing. "Did you know Kotegawa-chan confessed to him recently?"

Eve raised an eyebrow. "She confessed before Sairenji Haruna did?" she asked, and Hiro grinned, holding his hand out.

The Trans sighed, reaching in her pocket and handing over a couple bills, to which Haruhi blinked.

"You were...betting on them?" she asked, and the two nodded.

"I bet that Sairenji-senpai would be too afraid to say anything before graduation, and there's plenty of time before then...and Eve thought that Kotegawa wouldn't say anything and would end up leaving the group without ever saying a word."

Eve was about to speak, when the door burst open, and they looked in surprise at Yukihime, whose face was in a cold sweat as she stared wide-eyed at them.

"Yukihime, what-" Hiro said, but was interrupted by the human's shouting.

"Nymph…" she said. "Tsubaki...Outside…"

Eve stood up, already in place as she caught the girl, stopping her as she lost the energy in her legs. "Be calm and speak." she said. "Take a deep breath and choose your words. What happened?"

Yukihime's eyes closed, and for several seconds the only sound was of her breathing heavily, before she finally opened her eyes, staring directly at Hiro.

"Nymph and I went out to shop for clothes for her, and when she came back...Tsubaki attacked her. She's fighting her right now, we have to help her!"


	79. Round Two

Nymph shouted in pain as she held her arms up in a defensive X over her body, pushed back along the concrete as her invisible enemy rammed into her. How could someone so tiny have so much force behind her attack?!

"Nymph!" Hiro called, and the cyborg turned to him, shouting again as she was smashed into the ground by another attack.

"What is this?" she called. "I can't hack her, I'm only seeing a blur!"

Hiro's left eye opened, revealing the gold as Nemesis tracked the serial killer's movements, the eye moving independently of the one Hiro controlled. A brief mental conversation, and Hiro shouted out Tsubaki's location, giving the teal-haired alien enough time to dodge her next attack, though it was clear that she was worn out as she all but collapsed.

Yukihime just barely caught her before dragging her out of the warzone as quickly as she could, while the three fighters formed a defensive wall to protect her while she escaped to a porch nearby.

"So this is the power you mentioned." Eve said. "Total invisibility, even I can't detect her...yet Nemesis can?"

She blinked as Tsubaki reappeared, standing in front of them, her face split in a grin. " **That's right, you arrived late last time, didn't you, Eve**?" she asked, laughing and speaking in English as she always did...did she still not understand a thing they were saying? " **Yes, sadly I don't yet know enough about Nemesis to figure out exactly why she's immune to it, but it shouldn't matter at this point, because you're the only one here I'm actually worried about…** "

Eve narrowed her eyes. " **You're quite easily admitting to your weaknesses.** " she replied, and the girl laughed, before vanishing again.

"To your right, Momo!" Hiro called, Nemesis's eye trained on the parasite's thermal signature, and as Momo jumped aside, Tsubaki barrelled past her, before stopping behind them, standing still for a brief second before charging again, aiming for Eve's back.

"Eve, behind you!" he called, and the Trans whirled around, a wall of Trance hair forming in front of her to stop Tsubaki in her tracks, but the move wasn't necessary as their enemy seemed to suddenly trip, changing direction and running away for several meters before realizing her error, stopping and turning to face them again.

"Nemesis, did you notice that?" he asked under his breath. "Her movements are weird…"

 _It's like she can't control her own body very well…_ his headmate replied, and he grinned.

"Maybe Nymph was able to do some hacking after all…" he mused, before laughing and raising his voice. "Momo, Eve, I think I have a plan now! We're going to use the Black Dragon tactic!"

The two blinked in surprise, and Momo shouted as Tsubaki landed a hit, headbutting into her stomach and sending her sprawling.

Eve looked at her, before turning back to Hiro. "How are we going to catch something we can't hit?" she asked. "And Nemesis can't be ready for another fusion like last time!"

" _I can handle it!_ " the tiny Trans said through Hiro's mouth. " _Things are different since then, and the host body isn't nearly as old as you are, so it should be fine...I think._ "

"Not very confidence-boosting, Nemesis…" Momo said, groaning as she stood, one hand clutching her stomach and the other holding the new and improved D-Dial Lala had made her after her last one was smashed by this same enemy. "Eve, your binding is much stronger than any of my plants, but I can play support." she said, tapping a few buttons on the phone, and Eve nodded as the screen of the D-Dial glowed, the Devilukean swishing it in the air. "Cannon Flower!" Momo called, summoning her recent favorite, and the alien plant appeared on the ground in a flash of white energy, shivering its leaves as it adjusted to the sudden environmental change.

"Hiro, just tell me where she is." Eve said, and he nodded, training his eye on the Ragnarian, who hadn't moved since they started the conversation.

"' **Black dragon tactic'? Sounds like a fancy name for a worthless move...You can instruct them all you want, but that doesn't mean they can hit me!** " Tsubaki taunted, and Hiro turned his head to Eve, nodding, and she nodded back.

" **It's 3 against 1, even with whatever ability you have, you can't hide forever.** " he responded, and Eve's hair formed into a blade, ready to strike at a moment's notice. "1 o'clock!" he shouted, and the blade darted out, slicing through the air, and from their thermal vision, he knew Tsubaki wasn't fast enough to avoid the attack...She might be able to block senses, but she still displaced air, and Eve could pick up on that as their enemy tried to escape, the Trance blade following as she simply directed it through the moving airflow around her.

The blade entered through the girl's leg, throwing her to the ground and embedding itself in the concrete, the shock and surprise of the attack forcing her out of whatever the power she was using, leaving her vulnerable, bleeding from the wound onto the ground...Normal blood, not some weird color like he'd expected. Then again, her host was human, so it made sense.

Tsubaki shouted in pain as she gripped her leg above and below the wound, staring in shock at it. "You...hit me…" she said, her voice low and face pale. "How did you-"

"Never underestimate my abilities." Eve said, walking forward, and in seconds, the parasite's entire body was wrapped in hair, leaving just her face showing as the former assassin ripped the blade from the wound. "I've had 24 thousand years to hone my skills, you've been active for less than a century. What makes you think you can beat me?"

The captive growled, gritting her teeth in pain as she continued to bleed from the wound, before her frown turned to a grin. " **You're right, I can't beat you in close combat, I doubt there's anyone who can...But that doesn't mean I can't win.** " Eve's eyes widened as the girl seemed to simply fade, the hair prison collapsing as the person inside vanished, and she whirled around in surprise, before being knocked back by another charge.

A maniacal laughter came from the girl as she reappeared, completely unharmed...even the wound on her leg didn't seem to exist. There wasn't even a trace of blood on her shorts.

Her grin split her face as she stared at the three. " **I hope you didn't think that was it...I have many tricks up my sleeve, and I don't plan on losing again. It's about time for phase two now, don't you think?** "


	80. Bio-Hack

"How…" Eve asked, her hair returning to normal as she stared at the uninjured criminal. "You- I'm sure I caught you, I could feel your body through my blades!"

Tsubaki's grin didn't fade as she revelled in the trio's confusion. "I'm not a one-trick pony, I've learned quite a lot over the years...And of course, there are things about Ragnarians even Deviluke doesn't know. We aren't just parasite organisms, we are masters of genetic code! You could say that all of our hosts are like the Trans!"

Eve narrowed her eyes, before Tsubaki disappeared again, just before Momo's cannon flower could hit the spot where she'd been. Nemesis's eye followed her, though she didn't aim to strike anyone this time, choosing instead to move farther away, though it was clear as she shifted her position that she wasn't retreating - she was preparing to charge. It still defied logic that such a small host body could have so much force behind her attacks, but in the middle of battle, details like that didn't matter.

"Have any plan for this, Hiro?" Momo asked, and Hiro tched.

"Nemesis is having trouble keeping up with it, but she doesn't have any ranged attacks, so as long as we can keep out of the way of her charges, we should be safe…" The unspoken issue was how only Nemesis could see her, and it not only took time for her to communicate with him in their shared mind, he also has to direct the other two...And there was still the matter of protecting Yukihime while she treated the unconscious Nymph.

Why had Tsubaki attacked her anyway? Was she just drawing him out? Then why not attack Yukihime, who had been part of the group longer?

"She's charging, scatter!" he shouted, and the two jumped out of the way as she barrelled forward, her momentum keeping her moving forward until she could stop on the front lawn of a nearby house, kicking up dirt and grass as she stopped herself.

Hiro narrowed his eyes as beside him, Eve's hair formed into two blades as the cannon flower, with Momo standing inside its vines for protection, aimed where the dirt had kicked up, though Tsubaki had already gone from the spot by the time the seed bullets produced by the alien plant.

"Momo, that thing's too slow to hit her!" Hiro called, and Momo tched.

"I don't have many plants suited for combat, most of them are medicinal or other random stuff! This one was the only one that's fully back to normal after the Darkness Incident, so I had to use it!"

A ranged attack was worthless against someone they couldn't see, and they'd already torn up one lawn. He wanted to keep collateral damage to a minimum. Whatever the result of this fight, this would be it. Tsubaki had hurt another of his allies. Today would end with someone dead.

"Hiro." The eye he controlled rolled to face the voice that had said his name, and he blinked in surprise as he found Yukihime carrying a half-awake Nymph towards him...If he hadn't gained better hearing from Nemesis, he wouldn't have heard the low voice.

"Nemesis." he said, and grunted as a slight pain went through his body as his headmate forcefully detached herself, appearing on the ground in front of him.

The tiny Trans grinned, holding a fist to her chest as she looked up at him. "You go check on Nymph, I can handle things here...Now that I have both eyes I can keep better track. Now go!"

She turned around, her hair extending to form a shield around her as Tsubaki made an attempt to catch her by surprise, the dome of Trance hair visibly denting under the strike...Nemesis wasn't nearly as strong as Eve, after all.

Hiro made his way quickly to the two on the sidelines, catching Nymph as Yukihime collapsed to the ground, exhausted from her efforts to help the girl., signified by the gauze wrapped around her teal hair and bandages across cuts over her transparent wings.

Nemesis smiled, looking at him with a determined expression in her dark blue eyes. "Tsubaki severely damaged the reactor powering my cybernetics, but I still have some auxiliary control...I can still help you."

Hiro blinked, before shaking his head, frowning at the notable sluggishness of her speech...She was clearly in no condition to fight. What had Tsubaki done to her in the moments before they'd gotten here?!

"We'll find a way without you. If you try to fight now-" He was cut off as she raised a hand, covering his mouth with two fingers, her smile widening to a grin matching the determination in her eyes.

"I won't fight. I know I'm useless right now, it'll be weeks before my systems are back to 100%. But I don't need to be able to fight to help. Remember, I've got bio-hacking too…"

"But didn't you say you couldn't hack her? That body's not hers, and she doesn't have a physical form-"

"Who said anything about hacking her? I was sent here to kill her, but I decided as soon as I came here that this isn't my fight...But since she attacked my first, I think I'll help you in yours." Her eyes briefly shifted color as she touched his forehead with a finger, and he jolted, his body stiffening for a split second, before he relaxed, staring at her as Yukihime stood back up to help him carry her.

"What did you do to me?" he asked as she grinned.

"Just gave you a little bonus for when you do that fusion thing with Nemesis again...It should activate when you do so. As a cyborg, I have a natural resistance to her ability, so I can't directly do anything to her, but to you...that's a different story, and because you're so close to her, altering you affects her as well." She smiled as she shifted her weight so that Yukihime was holding her up. "Go get her, I want to see what this 'Black Dragon tactic' is…"

Her eyelids drooped as her voice fell, until by the end of the sentence, she'd passed out, Yukihime looking worriedly at her, before smiling at her childhood friend.

"Go get her, Hiro. Come back alive." she said, and Hiro smiled, letting go of the Angelite, leaving Yukihime to slowly sit on the ground with her.

"I will...Murano-chan." he said, and she blinked, but before she could respond, he'd already started running back to the fray.

Nemesis had done well directing the two, and both didn't seem to have suffered any injuries, though the cannon flower was gone, presumably returned to Momo's D-Dial as she frantically typed on it, searching through its database for another good species to send out, while Nemesis guarded her and Eve played offensive using Nemesis's shouted instructions.

"I'm back!" Hiro called, and Nemesis snapped to attention, her body dissolving into a black cloud and sinking into his skin, his left eye swapping colors as he felt her adjust to his body again.

" _...What is this?_ " she asked. " _You feel...different. Did Nymph do something to you?_ "

"She hacked my body, but I don't know what she did...All I know is it activated when you Trans-Fused with me."

Nemesis was silent for a moment, before chuckling. " _Remind me to thank her, because I think I know what happened…_ " she said, and Hiro's eyes widened as he felt his hair extend out, swirling in the air and building what was evidently a hand-held shield in front of him, attached by a thick cord of hair. He instinctively grabbed it, holding it up, and his eyes widened as he was forced back by Tsubaki's invisible body slamming into him...Though this time, the shield didn't dent as it had when Nemesis was outside of his body.

" _I knew it._ " Nemesis said, and when she laughed, it felt infectious as he did too. " _I was wondering why I couldn't use my Trance metamorphosis when inside your body...It seems Nymph gave us a very useful gift._ "


	81. The Black Dragon Tactic

" _Nymph gave us a very useful gift...Your body was resisting my attempts to use your hair and skin as a Trans naturally would, it seems that Nymph gave you a little boost to let me do so._ "

"So that means…" he said, and he felt the odd sensation of his head shaking outside of his control as Nemesis nodded.

" _It means that this fight just got a whole lot easier!_ " she said, laughing as Tsubaki reappeared, staring at them.

" **So you're finally taking out your big guns, huh?** " the Ragnarian asked, grinning. " **Finally, I was waiting for a real fight...Eve may be the biggest danger here, but it's no fun battling someone who can't see me...And I only care about you.** " As Eve sent a blade at her, her form flickered awayas the blade went right through, to her surprise. Just an afterimage...What was she doing now? It was different from before, that's for sure…

Hiro blinked as he realized he too could see her, vision returning to his left eye. Was she giving him control again?

No, the eye was moving separately from his right. She was still in control, but now...They could simultaneously see from that eye. Whatever Nymph had done, it did more than just give Nemesis her Trance back.

"Eve, Momo! Stay back, she's not interested in you!" he shouted, feeling his legs move unbidden as Nemesis dodged another charge, sending his head reeling at the feeling of jumping up and landing on a rooftop, something he never could have done otherwise. "Protect Yukihime and Nymph, we can handle her here!"

"What about the Black Dragon tactic? We have to bind her!" Momo shouted, and he grinned as he looked down, where Eve had already obeyed, rushing to the two sitting at someone's front porch.

"Don't worry about it! She's got some weird senses blocking thing, and Nymph's boost let me see through Nemesis's eyes! We can bind her ourselves, so don't worry about us. We'll be fine!"

Momo hesitated, before nodding as he closed his right eye, seeing no reason to use it...before opening it again as soon as he'd done so.

Seeing through Nemesis's eyes alone was too disorienting for him. She didn't see as he did in the slightest, when he stopped looking through his normal eye, the world looked as if he'd taken a tab of LSD before fighting. It was sickening. Was this how Nemesis saw things all the time? Surely she could sort out the information, but to him it was just a vomit-inducing mess of bright colors. With his right eye open he could at least see normally, and he didn't question how the image of Tsubaki's appearance - now absolutely normal rather than just a thermal signature, could be overlayed to his vision like it was. Best not to wonder what kinds of things Nymph had done to his brain.

" **So, it's just us now, isn't it**?" he asked the girl, who stood in front of him, her grin somewhat less than it was before as she found herself dodging the bladeless hair strands Nemesis shot out as he talked.

" **Yeah, I don't really care about the others, and I can easily just hijack Eve's ship if I need to get off the planet...I don't know why I've been so stuck on you for the last 8 years, I never cared before..Maybe I just wanted to piss Gid off a little, he's been a thorn in my side for years.** "

" **What is the project you kept talking about? Momo couldn't find anything relating to it in Deviluke's archives, and Haruhi can only give basic information. Why do you have knowledge we don't?** "

Tsubaki's grin widened again, " **Ragna's information database is just as extensive as Deviluke's. We are much older race, and we once even held the title of galactic rulers, though that role has long since shrunk back to our home planet alone. We have ways of detecting things that others can't...But if you really want answers, you're going to have to defeat me...Or do you think you can?** "

Hiro grinned as he felt a tug in his mind, and the strand that had been chasing Tsubaki while they spoke shot out, wrapping around her wrist, and she stared in surprise as she pulled, though she found herself unable to escape the strong grip of Nemesis's Trance.

" **Wh-What?! How did you-** "

" **Distraction is a valid tactic, isn't it?** " he asked, grinning as the strand holding her wrist split into several more, wrapping around her limbs and pulling her towards him, her face a mixture of shock and terror. She knew she couldn't escape now, and he knew that this was the real one...It was far easier than he'd thought, but now that he had her…"Nemesis, you know what to do. Black Dragon tactic...Think you can handle it?"

Nemesis chuckled. " _Of course I can. I know last time I said I never would again, but I think this monster deserves it much more than Eve did...Besides, I'm very curious to know what's going on in that head of hers._ "

He nodded as Tsubaki stared at him, now pinned within arm's reach, and her eyes widened as he raised a hand, closed in a fist but for his index and middle fingers, which were extended together to touch her forehead.

" **W-What are you doing to me? Why are you...You caught me, just kill me, don't leave me sitting like this! I don't like bondage, getting trapped like this is awful!** "

He blinked at her wording, before laughing. " **Trust me, I want nothing less that to have you in bondage...But we had to trap you enough that I could touch you. This is the Black Dragon tactic, after all...The same one we used to bond Eve to Darkness.** "

Her eyes remained wide at the statement. " **That you used to-What does that mean?! What did you do, what do you mean 'bond'? I don't want you to bond with me!** "

Her eyes crossed as they followed his fingers as they neared her forehead, his smile not lowering, and she shrieked as his fingers met skin.


	82. Meet Camellia Vermillion

The inside of Tsubaki's thoughts were...oddly normal. Where Eve's head had consisted of nothing but a void of darkness surrounding her golden cage, this mindscape took the form of what seemed to be the interior of a house, and not one that could be considered alien in any way. Just a regular house, though when Hiro tried to open the front door to peer outside, he found it unable to move, and through the windows there was little to see.

The house felt...empty. No one but him and Nemesis, whose eyes were scrunched together as she stood next to him, concentrating on keeping the connection, though she seemed much more in control this time as she was not groaning in pain and this world was not flickering as Eve's had done.

Where was Tsubaki? Where was Camellia? Why was this house here?

He left Nemesis standing at the door, heading down the hallway into the house, and blinking in surprise at the sight.

The living room was fairly large for the house, consisting of several couches surrounding a large flatscreen TV, and on one of those couches huddled two small figures, peering at the television, which seemed to be playing an English dub of Sesame Street. The two didn't even seem to react as he walked next to them, looking to see their faces.

One definitely was Camellia. She had nearly the same appearance as the host outside, though despite Tsubaki's claims on her condition within her mind, she seemed pretty healthy. Just a normal child.

The second figure was the odd one. Ragnarians had no physical form, and so in this physical mindscape, Tsubaki had manifested as...Was that a loli version of Mea? Why was she…

Despite the hard look in her eyes and the Trance hair wrapping idly around Camellia's body, the two were snuggled together like old friends as they watched their show.

It was an odd sight, considering the insanity outside of this mindscape. Was this...the real Tsubaki Dirnu?

"You're blocking the TV, Hiro-niichan." came the childish voice of the human girl, and he blinked in surprise, subconsciously stepping to the side out of the way before realizing what he'd done.

"...Camellia?" he asked, and she broke her attention from the screen to look at him, though her alien companion remained firmly fixed on the screen, though it seemed like she was genuinely interested rather than simply avoiding the boy standing next to them.

The human girl smiled at him, tilting her head cutely as she looked him over. "So you're the one Tsubaki-chan has been after for so long...I'm glad to meet you!"

He smiled, and blinked as she scooted over, pushing the mostly unresponsive Tsubaki to the side and giving Hiro room to sit between them, the Trance hair falling from the girl's side and returning to its owner.

He blinked again, before realizing what she was doing as she motioned, and he nodded, sitting down between them.

As soon as he did so, he jolted as Tsubaki leaned to the side, lying sideways with her head on his lap.

"Warm." the alien said, her eyes slowly closing, and as her breath slowed, he realized she'd fallen asleep.

"..." He had no idea how to react to this. Why was Tsubaki, renowned serial killer and the person trying to kill him, acting so...innocent?

Camellia grinned as she patted her headmate's head. "I bet she doesn't consider this real." she said, as if she'd understood his thoughts. "So she doesn't mind just playing nice...It's nice to see her being calm, it's annoying hearing her constantly complaining...I've had to help her before just to get her to shut up."

He blinked in surprise. "Wait, you've been...helping her?" he asked, and she nodded.

"Well...It's not that I agree with what she's doing, it's just...Well, what would you do if you were trapped inside of the mind of a crazed alien bent on killing someone you've never heard of? I mean, she does sometimes give me control, but it's so rare...Last time was back when Mommy took me to visit you!"

He thought back to what she was talking about, before smiling. "So that was you in control then? Back then I didn't even know Tsubaki was in you."

"She let me because I wanted to meet you again after you saved me from that car a long time ago...I don't think it even had anything to do with her wanting to kill you, she just gave me free reign." She smirked, an odd expression for such a young child even if her strangely advanced style of speaking wasn't already weird enough. "Not without giving her two cents in our thoughts though."

He nodded. "So, you're basically saying…"

"She's not such a bad person, when you've lived with her your entire life. Besides, she's different now than she used to be...She used to be a lot angrier, and a lot easier to get mad enough to start lashing at things. Mommy took us to a therapist a few times before she learned to calm down. After that, she was mostly quiet until we met you again…"

Without realizing it, he had started to pet the alien's head as the two talked, Tsubaki only shifting a little to show she noticed the motion. "I have to admit, I thought things would be a lot different when I came in here…I thought-"

"That I was being caged?" Camellia interrupted, grinning. "Our mind is not the same as that Trans's. They had a mutually beneficial system, while we are just two minds who sometimes overlap. I can't say if Tsubaki is my friend or not, and she can't say what I am either. We're just two sides of the same coin."

"I came here to destroy her. Does that mean you won't stop me?"

The girl tilted her head. "I think I would if you tried...We may not necessarily be friends, but I'd like to think she can be redeemed. I mean, look at her. Does she look like the kind of person who can be considered evil?"

He looked down at the girl on his lap, and smiled as he realized she'd woken, staring up at him with her dark blue eyes...Were her eyes really blue, or was this just taken from Mea? Why was she even in Mea's form anyway?

Tsubaki had no hint of either anger nor fear in her features. Just pure contentment, as if right now she was the happiest she'd ever been.

"I'd rather not die." the alien said. "But I also don't really want to get bound like Darkness did...It's bad enough you had to do that to me to get in here...Where is Nemesis, anyway? Can't move or she'll lose focus?"


	83. Nymph's Choice

Yukihime had managed to drag Nymph over to the rest of the group, who were recuperating on the ground, Eve watching the two on the roof carefully for any sign of movement...Right now, Hiro and Nemesis were either talking or fighting with the Ragnarian. Either one worried her.

The Angelite was only half-conscious as Yukihime set her down , and Momo ran to hold her up as the human sat down, exhausted from carrying her around...Nymph was fairly light normally, but when she was barely able to stay conscious like this, whatever method her body used to move just weighed down like a stone.

As Momo summoned some medical plants from her D-Dial, Nymph made an effort to grin, staring listlessly at them with the one eye she managed to keep open. Outwardly, she wasn't all that bruised, even under the bodysuit that Momo instructed Yukihime to strip off her, but the occasional sparks coming from her body especially concentrated around the metal spikes jutting from her skull and the hidden arm cannon, told them that her systems were damaged...And if Tsubaki was able to do a number on the metal, then no doubt her organic body was also damaged.

"I'll be fine." she said, though she didn't use her mouth to speak anymore...Whatever she'd done to help Hiro had taken a lot out of her even adding onto Tsubaki's attacks, so now she was speaking through an intercom somewhere in her chest, though after the bodysuit was removed, there was nothing on the outside to show where it was.

In fact, she had nothing at all underneath the suit. She had no need for undergarments, but she didn't have anything to hide either. Why Gid felt the need to rework her body to erase any signs of a normal reproductive system made no sense, but nobody bothered to question him anymore. If anything, it made it less awkward to work on her.

"I'll be fine." she repeated as Momo held up one of the medical plants, grinding it in her hands and rubbing the mush over the cyborg's chest, letting it seep in through her skin...They couldn't see any injuries, so she'd have to work on luck. "I'm an Angelite, and my specialty is genetic hacking...I can heal myself over time. My injuries aren't life-threatening, I'll be fine if I just get some rest for a couple weeks. You should be more worried about Hiro right now…" The grin fell from her face, replaced with a look of worry as she rolled her eye to look up, though from her position she couldn't quite see the situation.

"Nymph, stop talking." Yukihime said, blinking in surprise at the dominant tone in her own voice...It had been so long since she'd taken on her fake tsun personality, she'd forgotten she still had the capacity for it. "Momo actually has medical training, I'd let her do what she wants if I were you. Sure, you can self-heal, but it'll be faster if you get real treatment."

Momo sighed as she continued spreading the mush around the girl's skin. "I don't know what your skin is made of, but I can't see anything outwardly to treat...This paste is made from a species native to Gygax. It's capable of sinking into the body and looking for damage on its own...and it should ignore your cybernetic parts too. You're not throwing off enough electricity to hurt you, so I'll let you handle that when you're back to consciousness."

Yukihime smirked. "Finally have a use now, huh?" she asked, laughing despite the situation. "Guess we both are able to do a little more than just support now, it was getting lonely being on the sidelines all the time."

Momo nodded. "Nana and I are ranged fighters for the most part, an opponent able to turn invisible is a terrible matchup for us...Nana's animals are better able to smell or otherwise sense an invisible enemy, but she's not here right now. Besides, right now, we've got to rely on Hiro and Nemesis to deal with things."

"That's right...I had a question about that." the cyborg said, causing the two to look down at her. "You mentioned it several times before...What exactly is the 'Black Dragon Tactic'? You all seemed to understand when he said it…"

Yukihime nodded. "It's the same plan he and Momo used to subdue Yami's Darkness, and it lead to Eve being created after they fused. Long story short, right now, Nemesis, Hiro, and Tsubaki are all trapped in the same mind, using Nemesis's Trans-Fusion...I bet Camellia is there too."

Nymph nodded, blinking as Eve came into her field of vision, standing straight and peering down at her. "I've been watching them." she said. "It's taking a long time, much longer than with me...but then again, this is only the second time the tactic has been used. It hasn't been fully designed yet, and they're using an inferior version of Mea's Psycho Dive. It's to be expected that it would take a while. We might as well just sit back and wait, there's absolutely nothing we can do right now, and I don't want to strain Nemesis any farther than she's already stretching. Both of them are a lot stronger than the last time, but that doesn't mean it's not painful for her to connect three minds along with her own."

Nymph nodded, cringing in regret as a bolt of pain shot up her neck. "I boosted them too, I don't doubt they can beat her now. I may be pretty much unable to move now, but I take pride in my skills...And it's not just a one-time thing either. They'll keep my changes for life. If anything, it's a lot harder to make a temporary genetic alteration than a permanent one."

She groaned at the odd feeling of the paste digging into her skin, before sighing in instant relief as it began to work on her internal injuries...Momo was right, the stuff was incredibly effective.

"Why did you help him, anyway?" Yukihime asked. "You said you were going to stay out of it."

Nymph laughed, and thanks to the medicine's work, the effort wasn't nearly as painful as it would have been, and now, she spoke through her mouth rather than the intercom speaker, and though her voice was raspy and low, it was still intelligible. "Tsubaki attacked me first. I may be neutral here, but I won't take kindly to that. I haven't picked either side, I'm just helping to destroy the aggressor. Hey, Eve...if they're in each others' mind right now...what happens if you kill Tsubaki while they're busy?"

The Trans stared at her for several seconds, before shrugging. "Maybe it would kill them all, maybe it wouldn't do anything. Tsubaki's an immortal being, if you killed her body it wouldn't do anything but kill Camellia...And I think that even though he hates the parasite, Hiro won't want to hurt Camellia in the process…"

"Do you think it's even possible to kill her?" Momo asked the blonde, who simply shrugged.

"Maybe, maybe not. Hiro's always complaining about being cliche anyway, maybe it'll just end with them making a deal. Personally I'd rather he just kill Camellia too if it means destroying Tsubaki, and I think Yukihime agrees." With a nod from Yukihime, she smiled. "She doesn't personally affect me, but Hiro is the one who saved me from myself. I don't want to see him hurt again by that Ragnarian."

"Tsubaki's done more damage than just killing his parents too…" Nymph said quietly. "She doesn't care about Hiro specifically, she just wants to ruin Project Genesis…"


	84. Tsubaki's Survival Deal

"I can move." Nemesis said, walking to the living room and crossing her arms, peering at the three with a hard look in her gold eyes...though it was mostly from the pain she was obviously hiding from connecting all of them. "So you're Tsubaki...Why are you taking that form? Just mocking us?"

The girl blinked, sitting up from her position on Hiro's laugh, and looked at herself, holding up the magenta hair held in the braid and blinking again. "Am I...using Mea's form?" she asked. "Huh...I know you probably won't believe me, but I legitimately didn't know I was using this...Guess it's just how Hiro projected me." She smiled, looking up at him, and he looked down at her. "I'm surprised, I'd have expected you to portray me as your mom or something...Why this girl?"

He blinked in surprise, and Nemesis bit her lip worriedly, though to her surprise, he didn't show a sign of anger at her mentioning his parents...Was he not still fuelled by that rage he used to be? He couldn't possibly have changed so much in such a short time…

"Is that because you don't have a real form?" he asked, and Tsubaki nodded, smiling in that odd innocent look children usually had...her expression totally lacking any of the malice she had during the fight.

"Yep, pretty much! I kind of failed biology back when I was still in school, so I don't really know why."

"...It never occurred to me that you've had school." he said, and the girl grinned.

"Of course I had school! Ragnarians have quite a good education system, you know! I did poorly on biology and such, but I did manage to get a degree in forensics...That was back before I realized we could take on live hosts as well!"

There was the deviant personality they were used to seeing. Talking about her criminal exploits as if it were totally normal. Hiro found his hands balling into fists and his teeth grating together as memories of the things Tsubaki had done returned to his mind.

He wasn't sure what he would have done if he hadn't felt Camellia's calming hand on his arm, and with that single touch, he felt the rage melt away again, replaced by the same still calmness that he'd felt earlier.

Camellia smiled to him, and he smiled back as she turned to face her headmate. "Tsubaki, you're making Hiro-nii mad. Remember, you're still a murderer."

Tsubaki blinked, before grinning, laughing hesitantly and holding her hand to the back of her head. "Right, I know...I'm still not entirely sure why I'm so attached to this world anyway, I could have left after that Sakakibara Seito was caught and killed…"

"But instead you stuck around and decided to finish what you started." Hiro said, and she laughed hesitantly.

"Well...Not really. After Sakakibara died, I was in another host for a couple years, before he got a heart attack and rather than trying to wait it out I just decided to take on another host...It was kind of a rushed move, so I didn't have much control of who I went in, so it just happened to be some kid being born in the same hospital."

"Which was me!" Camellia said, grinning. "So Tsubaki's been with me since I was born!"

"It must be odd living with a criminal for your whole life...Hiro and I have only been bonded for a few months, and technically I've never committed any crimes...just attempted to." She glanced at Hiro. "Come to think of it, my efforts were probably worse than anything Tsubaki has tried…"

"...True…" he said, glancing at Tsubaki. "Still, I have a personal reason to hate her."

"Hey, I'm right here!" Tsubaki complained, punching his arm with her small fist, though he barely felt the motion. "And you don't really sound like you really care anymore...I wouldn't know since Ragnarians aren't born through sexual reproduction, but it seems to me that you've been able to let go of your parents' death by now...I'm trying not to sound too harsh, I know it's probably not very good for their killer to be saying that to-"

"No, you're right." Hiro said, cutting her off, and both her and Nemesis's eyes went wide in surprise, though Camellia didn't seem confused in the slightest...Rather, she just stared at him with a knowing look in her eyes.

"Wait, you accepted that really easily…" Tsubaki said, confused. "Didn't you come here to kill me?"

Hiro shook his head. "I was going to, but not so much because of my personal vendetta as much as the fact that you attacked Nymph for no reason."

She blinked, before grinning. "Well...I was trying to draw you out. I was going to aim for that human girl instead, but…"

""But she thought it would be too mean to kill an innocent human when it's more fun to have an actual fight!" Camellia chimed in. "Plus, you didn't want to hurt Yukihime-neechan, didn't you, Tsubaki?"

Tsubaki blinked, before her face flushed. "Er...Yeah. You can say that…" she replied, to Hiro's surprise.

Nemesis crossed her arms, staring at the Ragnarian. "So, you expect us to believe that in the space of a few months since we last saw you, you now would rather keep casualties to a minimum? After the last thing you did was kill Mea for no actual reason?"

The girl blinked, taping her chin in thought, before sighing, crossing her own arms and shaking her head. "I killed Mea for a reason. I wanted to test Konjiki no Yami's response time and abilities, since she was the biggest threat at the time. I know it's not exactly the nicest thing to say, but it was an actual battle tactic, not just random killing...I may not look it, but I know how a battle works. I served in the Ragnarian military before I went rogue, and I saw my fair share of fights, and when dealing with someone that strong, it's best to test the waters first...Plus, getting Mea out of the way as also a valid strategy since she had an ability that would put my existence in jeopardy. You two can invade our mind, but Mea would have been capable of separating us completely."

He crossed his arms as he thought over what she said, before sighing. "And is there no way to separate you without hurting Camellia?"

"Nope! Still…" Tsubaki bit her lip, before smiling. "You know, I may enjoy killing, but I think I enjoy survival more, and since you managed to get so deep into our mental state, I'm kind of vulnerable here...So how about we make a deal instead?"

"...A deal?" Nemesis asked, raising an eyebrow, and she nodded.

"You don't have to forgive me, I know that while I don't regret anything, to you, the things I've done are very wrong, and I accept that. I'm not asking for forgiveness or anything, but I'd rather survive this meeting...Plus, I think I like this calm way more than fighting. So, what do you think? Can you give this criminal a third chance?"


	85. Project Genesis

**Things are starting to wrap up, I predict we're only a few chapters away from the end! Sorry for the wait, by the way...I wanted to catch up on King of Commoners, and as it has now passed EE in terms of length, it's time to return to this!**

* * *

"Project Genesis?" Yukihime asked as Nymph, despite Momo's protests, pulled her elbows below her back to push herself up, her bodysuit lying on the ground as she groaned in pain, though she still managed to sit up, the paste working its magic on her body.

"The name and details are supposed to be secret, but I really don't care anymore what Gid wants." the cyborg said, crossing her mostly undamaged legs to sit up more comfortably and looking up with the better angle to see what was going on on the roof. "They're...just standing there."

"Right now, there's probably an even more intense fight going on there than there was earlier." Eve said, not even looking away from her fixed stare at the unmoving pair. "What is Project Genesis?"

Nymph blinked, but didn't question it. She wasn't present for the first use of the 'Black Dragon tactic', so she'd have to just trust that they knew what they were talking about.

"It's the official name of the project that Gid's spearheading." she stated, and Eve blinked, finally turning her head away from the pair to look at her.

"So that's what it's called...What is its purpose, then? I'm sure it isn't supposed to involve Tsubaki."

Nymph shook her head. "No, it's not...She's been a wrench in the plans for years. You on the other hand…"

The Trans blinked. "Me? I have a part in this?" she asked, though she didn't sound very surprised.

"You, Nemesis, Mea, all the Trance projects were funded by Gid and were part of it...I don't know the details of why he wanted to involve humans though. Originally Yuuki Rito was the primary subject, but it switched to Hiro after only a few years."

"...Yuuki Rito is only 17, and my project was started before the end of the Galactic War." she said, and Nymph nodded.

"Devilukeans can live for a hundred thousand years, and he got his age reset pretty far in the war. He had plenty of time to prepare, and from what I've been able to see of Deviluke's information network, there weren't any good species for using as the catalyst that Hiro is. Humans, and the entire planet Earth for that matter, were unknown at the time since there wasn't any sort of sentient signal coming from the planet. Even now, it's still classified as 'primitive' despite its popularity with alien tourism and immigration."

"That did seem odd to me…" Momo said as she continued her futile effort to get the girl to lie back down so the medicine could keep working efficiently. "I mean, all three of us Devilukean princesses live here officially, and yet there's been little trouble with warmongering races that normally show up in Deviluke's boundaries…"

"That's also Gid's doing. All the 'suitors' trying to go after Lala were sent by him in order to test Rito's skill and abilities, and of course Eve was sent as well since she's a Trans...possibly the most important one, being the first."

Eve crossed her arms. "So, you're telling me that Lacospo-"

"-was ordered by Gid, yes. Did you think a guy riding a clothes-eating frog would have any chance of getting with someone like Lala? Lacospo knew his place."

"...I thought he seemed oddly nervous when he was briefing me on my mission." she said. "I just thought it was due to his fear of Rito, though it seemed odd after I learned he lied about the report…"

"Why did it switch, then? Is Rito too nice for whatever Gid's planning?" Yukihime asked, and the cyborg shook her head.

"On the contrary. Rito's technical pacifist nature is damaging to the plan. He's a coward and prefers to run, but I'm sure at least you two aliens have seen what happens if he gets worked up."

"Nothing stops him when he has something to fight for." Eve replied, and Nymph nodded.

"Exactly. That kind of reckless behavior is too dangerous to support, because there's no guarantee that he won't eventually try to do the same to any of the Trans involved in the plan as well...And obviously, getting himself killed by the very beings he's supposed to be allied with is not going to help anyone."

"Any why is Hiro any different? Look at how much he hates Tsubaki. He'll do the exact same thing if he's pissed off enough…" Yukihime said, and Nymph laughed, though the sound was cut short by a cough. She still wasn't fully able to move properly yet.

"Hiro is a martial pacifist, like Gid himself. If he's angry, he's even more dangerous than Rito, even without his new abilities involving Nemesis. However...it's incredibly difficult to get beyond the point of no return with him. There's a much larger buffer zone to prevent infighting from breaking out. Tsubaki exceeded that, and you should already know why." Her stare at Yukihime made the human blanch, before nodding.

"Killing his parents…" she said, and Nymph nodded.

"That kind of action exceeded his limits, and he's hunted her down ever since. That's the blade of martial pacifism. The Trans are at the handle. I don't know everything the plan is meant for, but I know that their role is guiding him towards the goal, whatever it may be."

The others were silent as they processed this information, before Momo spoke. "So, basically, it's difficult to become his enemy, but once you manage to cross that line, there's no return?"

"Correction." came the voice of the subject of their conversation, and they jumped. Even Eve didn't notice him appearing there...whatever Nymph had done to his genes, it seriously boosted the things Nemesis could do in his body. Still, that wasn't nearly as surprising as the fact that Tsubaki stood next to him, seemingly uninjured. "It's extremely difficult to go back...But it is possible. Even for someone like this psychopath." He jerked a thumb in the tiny girl's direction, and she grinned sheepishly.

"We made a deal." she said. "'Cause I kind of would rather live. I'm going to help you guys!"


	86. The Truth Behind Tsubaki

**It may have come fast, but here it is, the final chapter. There will be an epilogue, but this is the end of the Tsubaki arc!**

 **More information at the bottom!**

 **Edit: An anonymous friend thought it a good idea to edit the first scene in the chapter, so here it is! Hope it's better than before!**

* * *

"…Hiro." Yukihime said, as she stood and faced him. "What's going on?"

The boy blinked before grinning, holding the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, things have changed." he said as his left eye flashed from gold to silver. "I saw Tsubaki's motivations while I was in their mind."

"…Their?" the human asked, her eyes widening as she looks down at Tsubaki.

Hiro smiled, nodding as he put his hand on the child's head and patted it as she looked up at him.

"Hiro-niisan…" she groaned. "Can I explain it for you? You're probably exhausted from rooting around my head for so long…" she says, before her own exhaustion caught up to her, her eyes fluttering as she collapsed, just barely caught by Momo, who still remained unsure how to react to the girl now held in her hands.

"Oho?" a familiar voice tsked as the ever-present tanned Trans phased into existence at Hiro's side. "Tired? You're fine aren't you?"

"Nemesis…" Hiro warned with a sigh.

"What? I mean c'mon look at me! Last time I could barely keep myself solid, and yet now, I'm totally fine! Haven't we both gotten a lot better?" she added with a smirk.

"Uhh…well…" He said, fishing for words as he rubbed the back of his head. Though what Nemesis says is true, it was safe to say the beads of sweat on his forehead and his ever twitching eye were not helping his case at the moment.

"You see-"

"Oh nevermind that Hiro-san," interrupts the ever present Momo, "I've got something I want to ask you?"

"Hm? Yeah sure what is it?"

"Well," she said, holding up the small child that was Tsubaki. "How is it that Tsubaki is able to speak Japanese? And when did she start calling you 'nii-san'?!"

As if on cue, Tsubaki suddenly sprung back to life, jumping out of her hands and landing on the ground, perfectly balanced despite her earlier exhaustion. "Oh that's simple!" she stated proudly, her hands on her hips. "I'm not actually Tsubaki-chan!"

"Eh?" stated the rest of the group, besides Hiro, simultaneously.

"I'm actually Carmellia!" she said, as if it was totally obvious.

"Ehhh?!" the group shouted, and she looked around, as confused by their reaction as they were at the bombshell.

"It's not that hard to understand...Tsubaki-chan did tell you about me being alive in her head, didn't she?"

Hiro picked up for her, crossing his arms. "It turns out that Tsubaki wasn't quite telling the truth...Camellia isn't as underdeveloped as Tsubaki made her seem to be, and she was actually growing, fully conscious, hidden away from the surface. Kind of weird to think about, but to sum it all up...Tsubaki's under control now. We found a way to handle things without killing Camellia."

"Neither of us really want to die, as you can probably guess." Camellia said, grinning. "And Tsubaki's not the same person she was 8 years ago...She's talking to me right now, hold on."

The girl closed her eyes and went silent for a few seconds, before nodding, opening her eyes again. "She wants to explain things, but since most of you don't speak English or Ragnarian, mind if I translate?"

Evidently the others were too shocked to do much other than nod, so Camellia smiled and went silent, listening to her headmate as she spoke.

"Ragnarians are a lot more complicated than just taking bodies and using them as hosts. The relationship between parasite and host is different than just that...And it's not quite parasitic anyway."

The group were silent, while Hiro and Nemesis simply stood in boredom, having already been made aware of this information.

"When one lives long enough in a host, they start taking on personality traits of that person...She wasn't so crazed a decade ago, though she was still a criminal by then...Sakakibara Seito was already unstable to begin with, living in him lead her to act irrationally. That's probably why she got involved with Project Genesis at all. It wasn't her choice so much as a collection of choices merged with Sakakibara-kun's."

"Likewise, with Camellia, she had to grow up with her from childbirth. So she stopped being so vengeful and started to wonder why she cared at all." Hiro replied, and Nemesis continued for them.

"So basically, the Tsubaki we've been fighting is a completely different person than the Tsubaki that killed his parents...and the Tsubaki that killed Mea was not actually doing it because she desired it, she only was because she was stuck trying to accomplish a task that her heart wasn't into."

Yukihime looked about to shout at the girl, before she went silent as Eve held a hand out in front of her, her red eyes narrowing at the child.

"Ragnarians aren't very well recorded, so it's difficult to prove anything you say to be true. Tsubaki didn't seem all that unsure of herself when she killed Mea, or in the fight during finals week. How do you explain any of that?"

Camellia sighed, shaking her head. "Actually, that kind of was my idea, not hers…" she said. "Tsubaki's been kin of weak-willed recently, so I've been taking over a lot more...So if you're going to blame anyone for the more recent fights, blame me, not her. I don't like her being the scapegoat...I'm only 6, but I grew up fast because I had to see her mind for so long."

"So you're equally as guilty as she is." Momo said from her position on the ground keeping Nymph sitting straight. "And we've been blaming the wrong person the whole time."

Camellia shifted uncomfortably, but Hiro stepped in front of her. "Nobody's really to blame. Nemesis and I spent a long time combing through both of their memories, and we decided that there's no reason to continue this. A revenge plot is meaningless now because the Tsubaki we were after died 8 years ago. This one, and Camellia, are like her daughters, trying to continue a legacy of a mother they don't actually care about. I know none of you saw into their heads like we did, but I want you to trust me. She doesn't want to fight anymore, and honestly, I'm tired of it too. Eve, I know you're the hardest to convince, but I want you to at least try to understand her situation. I'm the one who was most directly affected by it, if I can forgive her, then I hope you can too."

The blonde Trans narrowed her eyes, before sighing, crossing her arms and closing her eyes. "I don't like it...But I'm still indebted to you for saving me. I can tell that you've saved her the same way, or at least, a similar way...I'll accept it, but if she ever shows a sign of betraying your trust, I will not hesitate to destroy her."

"That's fair." Camellia said. "Tsubaki-chan agreed as well. She also wanted to say something directly…"

Her face seemed to change, her expression becoming harder and more serious before, an evident visual representation of Tsubaki taking over. As her eyes opened, she grinned, holding a hand out, which after several seconds, Eve accepted.

" **This is the end of an era, I think.** " the Ragnarian said. " **And hey, looks like you 'Tsubaki's Game' actually includes a Tsubaki now!** "

* * *

 **You can probably tell that there's many things left undone. What is Project Genesis? Who are the messenger sisters following Gid? Who are the mysterious Trans that Nymph met? Many things are yet to be answered, and so, there will be more parts to the story. I have as many as 5 parts planned including this one, so while this is now over, Evil Eye is far from its conclusion! I hope you enjoy!**

 **I'll announce the title and predicted date of posting the first chapter of the second part at the end of the epilogue!**


	87. Epilogue: Enter The Tank

"Master, it appears that Tsubaki is no longer a threat." Gin'iro stated, standing beside her sister as usual, though this time, they were not in the usual meeting room. Instead, they were walking down a hallway, heading where the messengers did not know, but they knew not to ask.

Gid nodded, having to walk quickly in order to keep ahead of them considering his much shorter stature. "I'm aware, Abbadon told me already about everything. It's not how I planned things to end, but...I don't think it's troublesome. Neither Tsubaki nor Nymph are aware of the actual purpose of Project Genesis, so they're in the clear."

He sighed, rubbing his forehead with two fingers. "So, tell me. How are those two doing?"

"Hai. They're living up to their nickname, that's for sure." Kin'iro stated. "They've been terrorizing the residents of Jikan for the last few months, as you ordered them to. If I may ask, what is the purpose of doing so? Jikan's inhabitants are peaceful creatures, what is the function of unleashing the Twin Terrors on them?"

Gid nodded, looking forward and holding his hands behind his back. "Those two are unstable, they have to be let loose every so often or they'll start to become disobedient. Jikan is a worthless primitive world, it won't be a problem if they annihilate the residents there. In any case, I'm sure they've had their fun now."

He stopped in front of a sealed door, and waited as a small camera popped out from the wall, scanning him and his companions before vanishing, the door opening with a hiss to let them in.

"Master, is this…" Gin'iro said, her eyes widening at the sight of the room, and Gid laughed, cutting her off as he went to sit down in the chair situated in the center, before mechanical tendrils popped out and began to surround him, slowly encasing him in metal fibers as a sealing cylinder lowered from the ceiling.

"Indeed, it is. It's finished now, and it is time for me to get rid of this annoying little body. There are to be no visitors for the duration of my sleep, do you understand?" His voice came through a speaker situated in the array of computers behind the tube, the cylinder blocking any sound from inside as the space within the tube began to fill with a greenish liquid, starting at the floor and inching its way up.

The two saluted as Kin'iro spoke. "Are we to begin the next phase while you are gone?" she asked, and he nodded.

"Indeed. Collect the Twin Terrors and give the subjects on Earth some time. They will need to be ready after the ordeal they've been through. It is up to your judgement to decide when is the best time to begin the stage."

The two stood still, waiting for any further instructions and sending the room into an awkward silence, punctuated only by the sound of the computers working, the sound of the liquid filling the container blocked by the soundproof glass.

It wasn't until a full minute had passed of Gid staring at the two in silence before he growled in irritation. "What are you waiting for? Get out! Tell Sephie that she has reign over the empire until I awaken again."

"H-Hai, sir!" the two said, quickly turning to leave the room, which sealed behind them, leaving him alone in the room, the liquid speeding up its pace as the sensors recognized that he was alone now.

Now that it was above his head, he braced himself, before slowly starting to breathe in the liquid. The substance burned as it entered his lungs, but he knew it was necessary for the process to work properly. Even as his thoughts went hazy and his eyes drooped, he knew that when he next woke, he would have accomplished one of his many goals.

Gid was a man of many goals, and he'd do anything necessary to accomplish them.

* * *

 **And that's a wrap! Than you to those who have stuck by the series this long! I hope you enjoyed, and I hope that Part 2 will be even better!**

 **It will be called Evil Eye: Project Genesis, and I predict that it will be up on October 12, though it may be up the day before! Thank you for reading!**


	88. Notice to Readers

**This is going to be a pretty big rant, but please stick to the end, it's important.**

 **So it's been a really long time since I updated this, hasn't it? November, I think. If you're here from the beginning, you've probably wondered what happened. If you're here from DDKDC's shoutout, you've probably wondered why he bothered linking you an abandoned story. Well, I have news today about the state of the story and plans for the future.**

 **First things first. This is not abandoned. It was on an indefinite hiatus for a really long time because I was busy with my other story (King of Commoners) and while writing that I realized how poorly laid out this one is. The first and only review since the last chapter pretty much sums up the state of the story. Yeah, Nemoskull, I don't know how you found the story but you were pretty spot on. Hope you don't mind, but to help explain what's going on, I'm going to copy your review word for word and walk through it.**

 **Spoilers to any newcomers seeing this listed on the archive, by the way.**

this is good, but your writing is... aimless. and not in a good way. killing off mea was a cheap shot to advance the plot. and this is a bit too dark to feel like to love ru. mostly i think you need focus. all the parts of a really good story are there, but its not quite right.

 **First, about it being aimless. You're absolutely right. Evil Eye was written at a time when I was just barely getting into a somewhat decent writing style despite my years on the site (seriously, I've kept all my old stories despite how terrible they all are, you can see them if you want to challenge yourself). I'm comparing to KoC again, and I'll probably continue to do so since that's my current standard, but Evil Eye doesn't even have defined arcs for the most part!**

 **Second. Mea. Just...everything about Mea was a mistake. Her death was indeed cheap, but it was also necessary to show Tsubaki's motivation and power. That's not an excuse, it was certainly poorly done, and I'd certainly do it much differently if I had the chance.**

 **Third, about it being too dark. This story is NOT the canon. It didn't do a great job, but it was supposed to give outlook on the lives of the Trans race. Their lives are not happy, nor are they full of ecchi normally. I wasn't able to get far enough to really show it off, but there is a lot more to them than meets the eye, and I had planned it to happen during the following parts.**

 **So, what am I doing talking about this now? Well, I'll say it plain and simple. I'm rebooting the story. Starting from scratch, following the same lines but overhauling everything for my current standards. If I were to continue off what is currently written, then it would only spiral worse, and I just don't want to lower my standards just to fit the legacy story.**

 **Spoiler, so skip to the next paragraph if you haven't actually read the story yet or don't want to know what the following parts are planned to be. This time, I will be combining the Tsubaki Saga with the Project Genesis Saga, as both a storytelling device as well as somewhat copying the canon's decision to have a first season twice as long as the following three. The structure of the story will therefore have the "Evil Eye" series, following Hiro's actions relating to Project Genesis, and then part 2 and 3 being the next saga, and part 4 being the finale. I don't know how much I'll change from then thanks to this initial change, but that's the gist of it.**

 **Okay, spoilers over. Now for the fun bit of explaining how the reboot will be posted. Both Evil Eye and the 5 or so chapters of Project Genesis will be left up for posterity and given an "archive" tag, so if you want to be spoiled then go ahead and read them at your own risk. The reboot will be put up as the new "Evil Eye" and will hit the archive on the day I do mass uploads every year (June 26th).**

 **If you have any questions, then go ahead and shoot me a review or PM. Keep in mind I can't answer guest reviews. Also, go yell at DDKDC to get cracking on Snapped, I want to see it come back like this!**


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